By Manuel Perez: Super bantamweight contender Bernabe Concepcion (26-1-1, 15 KOs) took out Adam Carrera (19-4, 8 KOs) in the 3rd round of a scheduled 10-round bout on Saturday night at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. After a fairly slow first two rounds of the fight in which both fighters looked limited in ability, Concepcion, 20, suddenly came to life in the 3rd by dropping Carrera with a straight right hand. Not long after, Concepcion finished him with a powerful right uppercut that knocked a badly hurt Carrera to the canvas. He got up, looking groggy and hurt, but referee Joe Cortez stopped the bout at 2:14 of the round rather than let him continue and possibly get hurt worse.

Concepcion, ranked #5 in the WBC and number #8 in the WBO super bantamweight division, didn’t look all that spectacular in the 1st round. In fact, he looked over-muscled, rigid and weak punching. He mainly threw jabs and stood and poising in front of Carrera as if he was trying to scare him into losing. Carrera, 25, who had been stopped in his last fight, jabbed frequently in the first round and fought Concepcion pretty much on even terms in the round.

If he had landed a few more shots other than jabs, I think Carrera could have easily have won the round, because Concepcion did very little. For a super bantamweight, I couldn’t remember seeing one that threw as few punches as Concepcion, and I couldn’t really see what the fuss was about him. He didn’t look good, nor had he ever fought anyone to deserve the hype that he had received up to this point in his boxing career. He just looked like an average fighter, who was struggling against another fighter of that ilk.

In the 2nd round, nothing much happened. Both fighters fought essentially the same as in the first round, meaning they did little other than throw a handful of jabs. The crowd hated it, started booing and letting them both know they were stinking up the joint. Concepcion continued to do a lot poising in front of Carrera and looking far too slow and more than a little muscle-bound for his own good. I kept wondering when he would throw something hard, because it was clear that Carrera’s chin wasn’t the best due to his recent early 3rd round stoppage in his last fight. If there was ever a fighter that the light-hitting Concepcion should have been able to knockout, it was this one. Instead of letting his hands go, Concepcion picked his shots carefully, as if he were fighting a knockout artist that he had to be careful of. To say that Concepcion looked like garbage would be being kind to him, because he looked terrible for a fighter as ranked as high as he is.

In the 3rd round, finally Concepcion threw a good right hand, which dropped Carrera on the seat of his pants. The punch wasn’t much to speak about, but due to Carrera’s lack of a chin, it was more than hard enough to put him down. After getting up, Carrera moved around a little bit, trying to defend the best he could. However, Concepcion moved in quickly and finished matters with a good right uppercut to the head, dropping Carrera for the second time in the round. This time, he was really hurt and just sat there for a moment looking around the ring, as if things were spinning in his head. He then got up off the canvas, stood in front of referee Joe Cortez as if being inspect, but that was it. Cortez obviously didn’t like the looks of him and called off the fight at 2:14 of the round.

As for Concepcion, he looked really bad, and I can’t see him ever winning a title unless it’s one of the little known types, the ones that no has ever heard of or cares about.