By Jim Dower: Former WBO bantamweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez (38-6, 32 KOs) had a tougher than expected time defeating former IBF light flyweight champion Mauricio Pastrana (34-9-2, 22 KOs) , stopping him in the 4th round of a scheduled 10-round bout tonight at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, in Cabazon, California. Gonzalez, 26, lost the 1st and 3rd rounds, but came on strong suddenly in the 4th and dropped Pastrana with a pair of devastating left hooks to the head. Upon getting up, Pastrano received more of the same, with Gonzalez immediately driving him across the ring with a double left hook to the head. Once having him up against the ropes, Gonzalez buried him with a flurry of hooks to the head, causing the referee to move in and stop the fight at 2:32 of the 4th round.
Following his usual pattern of starting slow in his bouts, particularly since losing his WBO title in a 7th round KO to Gerry Penalosa in August 2007, Gonzalez did little in the 1st round. However, it was not for trying, because Gonzalez attempted to trade with Pastrana, but mostly missed his shots. For his part, Pastrana, 35, landed well, hitting Gonzalez repeatedly with overhand rights and a lot of left-right combinations. Gonzalez seemed somewhat confused by the quickness and elusiveness of Pastrana, who had very fast hands and was deadly accurate with his shots.
In the 2nd round, Pastrana continued to control the fight, hitting Gonzalez with a lot of jabs and left hooks during the round. Pastrana appeared on his way to win the round when all of a sudden Gonzalez opened up with a flurry of left hooks to the body and head in the final 25 seconds of the round, hurting Pastrana and driving him to the ropes where the round ran out as Gonzalez was unloading on him.
In the 3rd round, Gonzalez did next to nothing in the round, instead seeming to bide his time waiting for the right moment to spring his attack. Taking advantage of yet another round where Gonzalez wasn’t letting his hands go, Pastrana once against landed a high number of left hands and jabs to the head of Gonzalez.
Pastrana dominated the first minute of the 4th round as he tagged Gonzalez with hard rights to the head and jabs to the body. As if angered, Gonzalez suddenly sprang to life and unloaded two hard left hooks and a right hand that staggered Pastrana. Gonzalez quickly followed with two big left hooks to the head that dropped Pastrana to the canvas. After getting up, Pastrana, looking hurt, was given a standing eight count by the referee.
As soon as the action resumed, Gonzalez blasted Pastrana with two powerful left hooks that sent him hurtling backwards across the ring towards the ropes. Gonzalez followed after him and immediately started tagging him with left-right combinations repeatedly as Pastrana was trapped on the ropes. Seconds later, the referee stepped in and halted the fight with Pastrana taking a blizzard of shots against the ropes.