By Manuel Perez: Once beaten lightweight prospect Vicente Escobedo (19-1, 12 KOs) scored a sudden 6th round technical knockout over his previously unbeaten opponent Dominic Salcido (16-1, 8 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round bout at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, in Cabazon, California. Escobedo, 26, a former 2004 Olympian, appearing to be trailing in the fight with swelling under both eyes in the 6th, suddenly landed a perfect left hook to the head of Salcido just as he was attempting to throw a punch of his own.
The left snapped Salcido’s head back, causing him to step backwards. Escobedo then followed up with a right hand, then a left-right combination to send him down to the canvas. Salcido groggily got to his feed, badly hurt, and continued fighting. Escobedo, not to waste the opportunity, charged after him hitting him with two left hands and then a right that whiplashed Salcido’s head as he stood with his back to the ropes. Referee David Mendoza then jumped in and stopped the fight at 0:42 of the round.
Up until the knockdown, however, Escobedo, ranked #12th in the WBO, had his hands full with the busier, and harder punching Salcido, who punished Escobedo with big shots from the 1st round until the 6th. Escobedo had come into the fight the more popular fighter, but Salcido quickly got the crowd behind him with his big power shots, his flaming dyed red hair and his Paulie Malignaggi-like style of fighting in which he would lean forward and dodge Escobedo’s shots. For his part, Escobedo, a Golden Boy Promotions fighter, looked like a carbon copy of Oscar De La Hoya, only without the big power and the speed.
Salcido fought well in the first round, showing immediately who the harder puncher was between the two of them, as he hit Escobedo with right hands, left hooks and uppercuts from all angles. It was a really impressive punching display, for he never seemed to stop punching for a moment in the round, and gave the weaker, slower Escobedo all kinds of trouble. By the end of the round, Escobedo’s face was turning red from all the punches that he had been forced to eat in the round from Salcido. Except for a punch or two, Escobedo did little in the round other than take punches.
In the second round, Salcido continued to fight really well, hitting Escobedo left hands, uppercuts and right hooks. He caught him on a few occasions coming inside, and snapped Escobedo’s head with the shots. However, late in the round, Escobedo caught Salcido with a big left hook that staggered him, almost dropping him to the canvas. At the time, Salcido was moving in range to throw a shot and didn’t expect the big left hook from Escobedo, and was taken off guard by the punch. Escobedo, though, was unable to take advantage of the situation as Salcido fought back as Escobedo tried to go after him on attack.
Salcido fiercely attacked Escobedo in the third round, landing many left-right combinations to the head of Escobedo, and causing swelling to develop under both of Escobedo’s eyes. Occasionally, Escobedo would land a good left hook to the head, but for the most part, he wasn’t letting his hands go enough and was taking way too many shots from the hard-hitting Salcido. If that was a strategy on Escobedo’s part, he needs to rethink it because he was taking a lot of abuse from Salcido, and minus the 6th round come from behind knockout, it looked as if Salcido would have easily won the fight, maybe even stopped Escobedo before long.
In the 4th and 5th rounds, Salcido continued punishing Escobedo with power shots and looking like the much better prospect than him in doing so. Each time Escobedo would land a good left hook, Salcido would respond with a series of left and right hands to the head, all of the thrown very hard, getting the crowd into the action when the shots would land home. By the 5th round, the swelling under Escobedo’s eyes had worsened, and he was beginning to look like more like a loser than a potential winner. He continued mostly taking shots and rarely landing one of his own.
Early in the 6th round, just as Salcido was attempting to nail Escobedo with another big left hook, Escobedo beat him to it with a left hook of his own, the punch landing hard, staggering Salcido and causing him to back up a few steps. Escobedo then dropped him with a three punch combination. Upon getting up, Salcido was backed up to the ropes by Escobedo, who ran after him throwing punches as he went. Referee David Mendoza then knifed in between the two fighters and stopped the fight at 0:42 of the 6th round.
Overall, I wasn’t particularly impressive with Escobedo despite him getting the win. He took a lot of shots, and wasn’t nearly busy enough for his own good. Salcido wasn’t even ranked in the top 15, which seems to suggest that Escobedo will be in over his head once he attempts to fight a top 15 fighter. Although he fights a lot like a small version of De La Hoya, I don’t see Escobedo going anywhere as a fighter. He might stick around in a bottom feeder type of roll in the lightweight division, but if he moves up against better competition than the likes of Salcido, he’s going to get slapped down again and again I’m afraid. Escobedo, who was thought to be a potential world champion after turning professional in 2005, was upset by Daniel Jimenez in an eight-round split decision loss in 2006. Since that time, he’s been trying to recapture his progress and stature that he had built up in the first year.