Morales-Lowey

by BoxngRules

Lowey stunned the Mexican Morales by rocking him in the first round. Morales seemed more steady in the second. But by the third round, a head-butt opens a cut over Morales' left eye, this would be one of many head-butts. Referee Laurence Cole immediately took away a point.

In the fourth, both fighters caught hard punches. In the fifth, another head-butt cost Lowey a second point and Morales a cut over his right eye, and later in the round, Lowey, who was bobbing and weaving while trying to get out of a clinch, was unrightfully deducted a third point. Lowey was back in control by the sixth, stunning Morales with power shots. Morales pulled out the seventh by backing off the tiring Lowey.

Lowey, who claimed that his right hand was injured in the fifth round, quit on his stool. It was a technical knockout for Morales. Lowey, who stunned most of the Tijuana crowd with his performance, saw his record slide to 25-2, his only previous loss had been to Kennedy McKinney.

Morales who won the title in September by knocking out Daniel Zaragoza, remained unbeaten and improved to 28-0, with his 22nd KO, I had the bout 67- 64 for Morales at the time of the stoppage.

In my opinion Laurence Cole is a lousy referee and did a bad job with this bout and a bout in December of 1996 when he stopped the first Rocky Gannon- Dominick Carter bout with only 10 seconds remaining in the first round!

In an undercard bout, "Lil' Hagler" Freddie Norwood remained unbeaten by knocking out a 4-day replacement Benito Rodriguez in the sixth round.

Norwood, who improved to 28-0-1, knocked down Rodriguez in the fifth and again in the sixth, the referee stopped the bout.

Rodriguez, whose last bout had been a week prior to the fight, dropped to 26-23-2. Norwood is ranked #3 by the WBA and wants Naseem Hamed or Wilfredo Vazquez.

Norwood is a very good boxer-puncher (Like Marvin Hagler) and is very patient. He deserves a title shot, and has a very good chance of beating Vazquez or Hamed.