Cyber Boxing Zone -- Newswire

The Cyber Boxing Zone Newswire

May 19, 2001
Echols gets off the canvas to stop Brewer
By Stephen Tobey

UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- The most amazing thing about Antwun Echols's third-round stoppage of Charles Brewer was that there was a third round.

Echols visited the canvas three times in the second round before rallying to stop Brewer at 1:21 of the third round for the vacant North American Boxing Association super middleweight title Saturday at Mohegan Sun's Uncas Pavilion.

Early in the third round, Echols had Brewer against the ropes and hurt him with an overhand right. Referee Michael Ortega felt that the only thing holding Brewer up was the ropes and stepped in to administer an 8-count (not a standing-8) and tripped Echols when he moved between the fighters.

When action resumed, Echols kept pressuring Brewer and once again had him on the ropes. After a hard straight right hand and a right uppercut, Ortega moved in and stopped the fight.

Brewer and his corner protested the stoppage and a brief scuffle broke out between the two corners during the television interviews. "Brewer knew where the ropes were," said Ortega. "He took several shots to the head and was not protecting himself. There's a difference between putting your hands up and protecting yourself and he was not protecting himself."

Brewer disagreed.

"I don't feel the ropes kept me up," said the former IBF super middleweight champion, who is now 36-8 with 26 KOs. "I was coherent." In the second round, Brewer knocked Echols down three times, first with a straight right hand. Brewer continued to swarm over Echols after he got up and put him on the mat again with two left hooks. Echols got up again and returned to the canvas just before the end of the round when Brewer landed a left uppercut. Judges Steve Epstein, Fred Ucci and George Smith all scored the round 10-6 for Brewer.

"I've never endured anything like that," said Echols, now 25-4-1 with 24 KOs. "The referee did a good job. Everytime I was knocked down, I listened to him and obeyed everything he said. (Brewer) hit me with some good shots, but I'm a warrior. I kept coming."

Echols also listened to his corner after the second round.

"They told me to keep my hands up and put pressure on him," he said. "I wasn't tired and if the fight wasn't stopped, I could have kept the pressure on him."

Though the winner of this fight had a meeting with WBO champ Joe Calzaghe as a possible reward, Main Events' Gary Shaw said a rematch between Echols and Brewer would be a much more appealing fight. "If the fight wasn't stopped, every round would have been like the first three," said Shaw.

Echols weighed 165 to Brewer's 167.

Ortega's stoppaged was soundly booed, as were two other stoppages on the eight-bout card. Mexican Olympian Francisco Bojado dropped Mexico City's Ernesto Fuentes twice in the fight round and turned Fuentes' face into a bloody mess. Bojado landed another hard left hook, but Fuentes was still standing when referee Jim Santa stopped the fight at 2:41 of the first round. Bojado weighed 135, Fuentes 132. The 18-year-old Bojado climbed to 5-0, all KOs, while Fuentes dropped to 9-3-1 (5).

Santa also stopped Olympic silver medalist Rocky Juarez's bout with Eddie Uturov with Uturov bleeding and on his feet in the fourth round of a scheduled six. Juarez, 128, of Houston, floored Uturov, 125, of LasVegas in the third round. Records: Juarez 3-0 (2); Uturov 6-6 (3).

US Olympian Jeff Lacy scored his third first-round knockout in as many pro fights, stopping Tony Pope of Norfolk, Va. at 2:27 of the first. Lacy put Pope through the ropes with an overhand right. Pope got up, but clammed up in a corner and went down to a knee after taking an uppercut. On the advice of ringside physician Michael Schwartz, referee Richard Flaherty stopped the fight due to a cut over Pope's left eye. Pope dropped to 14-8 (11) Weights: Lacy 168; Pope 165. It was later reported that Lacy broke his left hand during the match.

Seventeen-year-old Juan Diaz of Houston claimed a first-round knockout victory over Carlos Navarez of Denver. Diaz, whow eighed 136, put the 138-pound Navarez on the canvas twice, first with a left, hook, then and overhand right before referee Johnny Callas stopped the fight at 2:44. Diaz climbed to 9-0 (6). Navarez dropped to 9-9 (5). "Main Events is not going to give these guys patty cakes," said Shaw of the young prospects featured on the card. "(Bojado) just turned 18 and Diaz is 17 and they're in against men who are eight-round fighters. What we have is extraordinary talent that makes the opposition look less credible."

Daniel Judah, 175, Brooklyn, NY TKO'd Donnie Giron, 176 Denver, when Giron did not answer the bell for the fifth round of a scheduled six. Judah (10-0-1, 6 KOs) dropped Giron (17-7-2, 13) in the first and fourth rounds. The referee was Callas.

Vivian Harris, 142, Brooklyn returned to the ring after being stabbed last year and scored a first-round TKO over Hector Arroyo, 138 1/2, Morovis, PR. Harris (17-1-1, 13 KOs) knocked Arroyo down twice before Flaherty stopped it at 2:06. Arroyo dropped to 18-10-2 (11).

Promoter: Main Events
Timekeeper: Lou Dell
Nontitle bout judges: Harold Gomes, Frank Lombardi, George DeGabriel, Julie Lederman, John Lawson, Glen Feldman.
Timekeepers: Lou Dell, Michael Mertha
Ring Announcer: Jimmy Lennon, Jr.

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