By Manuel Perez: Jesus Jimenez (21-5, 14 KOs) took out Salvador Montes (5-6, 2 KOs) in the 4th round of a scheduled 12-round bout on Saturday night to win the vacant WBC Latino flyweight title at the Foro Scotiabank, in Polanco, Distrito Federal, Mexico. Jimenez, 24, trapped Montes up against the ropes in the 4th round and nailed him with three consecutive left uppercuts to the head and body, causing the referee Gabriel Peralta to step in and stop the fight at 2:42 of the 4th.
Jimenez, a southpaw with good power, controlled the entire fight, following Montes around and nailing him straight left hands and dodging Monte’s wild shots. It was surprising that Montes was able to make it to the 4th, because he was taking one-sided punishment in every minute of this one-sided affair and only rarely landed a shot in the fight.
In the 1st round, Jimenez stalked Montes around the ring, jabbing and hitting him with straight left hands to the head. Montes, 5’4″, was giving up three inches in height to the 5’7″ Jimenez, but much more of that in terms of hand speed. The lack of hand speed was a critical factor for Montes, because it along with his shorter height, meant that he was going to have to take a lot of shots before getting his own punches in. In the 1st round, his lack of accuracy made it nearly impossible for him to land anything, and as such, he took a lot of head shots in the round.
Montes fared little better in the 2nd round, getting hit with a lot of straight left hands from Jimenez in the opening minute of the round. Jimenez stalked him around the ring and made Montes pay for any attempts at landing anything. Jimenez landed a couple of nice right uppercuts in the round and had Montes constantly backing up and on the run. For his part, Montes only landed three punches, all right hands that I could see during the entire round. The rest of his attempts at landing badly missed due to his poor hand speed and lack of accuracy.
In the 3rd round, Jimenez began teeing off with big shots, tagging Montes with left and rights throughout the round. Late in the round, Jimenez caught Montes in the corner and hit him with some powerful right-left combinations. By this time, it was clear that Montes couldn’t continue to absorb punishment like this and keep going because he was getting hit with far too many shots and wasn’t competitive with Jimenez.
Montes continued to miss shots going into the 4th, making wild swings and coming up with mostly air for his efforts. Jimenez then began hitting him with big left uppercuts and nice combinations to the head. When Montes would try to throw a shot, Jimenez was quick to counter him with left hand shots immediately after he threw. Finally, Jimenez caught Montes up against the ropes and nailed him with three straight left uppercuts to the head and body, moving from head to body with each shot. The referee Gabriel Peralta decided he had seen enough and stepped in and stopped the bout at 2:42 of the round.
In other action on the card, undefeated bantamweight prospect Francisco Barrera (7-0, 4 KOs) stopped Jose Luis Calzada (0-2) in the 4th round. Barrera hurt Calzada with a big right hand in the 4th, staggering him. Moments later, Barrera nailed Calzada with two more big right hands, hurting him further. At this point referee Gelasio Perez Huerta stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:38 of the 4th round.
Calzada fought well in the opening stages of the first round, throwing a lot of punches but leaving himself open in the process. Barrera took advantage of Calzada’s lack of defense and dropped him with a left hook to the jaw in the 1st. For the remainder of the round, it was now Barrera that was going after Calzada and punishing him with big shots.
In the 2nd round, Barrera continued beating Calzada around the ring and having little trouble from him. In the 3rd round, Calzada was taking serious punishment and bleeding from the mouth. He was now rarely landing and just getting battered around the ring. Late in the 4th, Barrera staggered Calzada with a right hand to the head. He then staggered him again seconds later with second right hand. Calzada, badly hurt, backed up to the ropes where he was met with two right hands. The referee then stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:38 of the 4th.
Undefeated bantamweight prospect Fernando Aguilar (1-0, 1 KOs) stopped Ivan Luis Mendoza in the 2nd round in other action on the card. Aguilar staggered Mendoza with a big left hook in the 2nd round, prompting referee Rafael Saldana stop make a quick stop of the fight at 2:17 of the round. Mendoza had also been staggered in the 1st round after getting hit with a big right hand from Aguilar. The fight was dominated by Aguilar, who had too much fire power for the limited Mendoza to deal with.
Undefeated super featherweight prospect Cesar Sanchez (1-0, 1 KOs) defeated Moises Neri (0-1) in a 2nd round TKO. Sanchez staggered Neri with a hard right hand in the 2nd, at which point referee Rafael Saldana stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:17 of the round. Neri was knocked down twice in the fight, once in the 1st and another time in the 2nd round. The first knockdown came at the end of the 1dt round after Neri was hit with a big left hook, sending him to the canvas. Immediately after he got up, the round ended. In the 2nd round, Sanchez tagged Neri with a hard right uppercut to the head, sending him down for the second time in the fight. For his part, Neri fought aggressively throughout, but left himself open much of the time for Sanchez’s counter shots.