By Eric Thomas: Talented but deeply flawed Argentinian welterweight contender Carlos Abregu (27-0, 22 KOs) stopped Puerto Rican Irving Garcia (17-4-3, 8 KOs) in the 4th round of a scheduled 10-round bout tonight at the Chumash Casino & Resort, in Santa Ynez, California. Abregu, 26, struggled in the early going and was knocked down by the light hitting Garcia in both the 1st and the 4th rounds. Abregu, a big puncher, rallied in the 4th round and knocked Garcia down. The fight was then stopped at 2:59 of the 4th round by referee Jack Reiss.

Abregu recently defeated David Estrada in an unimpressive 10-round split decision performance in December 2008. Estrada fought passively in the first half of the fight, but then came alive in the last five rounds, hurting Abregu often with big shots and wearing him down.

Abregu was totally fassed out and looked to be on the verge of being knocked out, clinching often and looking terrible. However, time was on Abregu’s side as the bout was only a 10-round bout. Had there been another two rounds, I would have given Estrada an excellent chance of knocking Abregu out.

In other action on tonight’s card, super middleweight prospect Anthony Dirrell (17-0, 14 KOs) destroyed Alexander Pecheco Quiroz (14-8-1, 12 KOs) in the 1st round of a scheduled six-round bout. Dirrell, 24, the brother of U.S. Olympian Andre Dirrell, knocked the over-matched Quiroz down twice with big shots. After the second knockdown, referee Lou Moret moved in and put a halt to the mismatch.

Lightweight Marvin Quintero (16-1, 12 KOs) defeated Wes Ferguson (20-4-1, 6 KOs) by an eight round lopsided unanimous decision. The final judges’ scores were 78-74, 79-73 and 78-74.

Unbeaten featherweight prospect Gary Russell Jr (3-0, 1 KOs) defeated Alvaro Muro (6-14, 5 KOs) by a one-sided four round unanimous decision. The final judges’ scores were 40-35, 40-35 and 40-35. Russell, a former U.S. Olympian star, showed blazing speed throughout the four-round bout, hitting Muro with fast combinations and knocked him to the canvas in the 3rd round. However, the light-hitting Russell was unable to finish Muro off and had to settle for winning by a decision.