EL UNIVERSAL
Friday 11 August 2006
GONZALES AMBUSHES
FLYWEIGHT SEMIS
Story by Miguel Trelles
22 year-old Ciudad Neza native Humberto Gonzales booked himself a place in the semi-finals of the International Boxing League's Americas Flyweight Championship tournament last night with a unanimous decision win over Puerto Rico's Carlos Seda. Fighting in the main event at San Juan's Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot, Gonzales upstaged the hometown favourite and tournament 3rd seed, flooring him thirty seconds from the final bell and being awarded identical verdicts of 77-75 from all three judges. Gonzales made a fast start, taking the opening two rounds before Seda answered back strongly in the 3rd and 4th. It was a competitive contest the rest of the way but Gonzales put the result beyond doubt with a single crushing left hook. He outlanded the more aggressive Seda 204-193, improving his record to 11-0-1(8).
There was a possibility at the beginning of the night that four Mexicans could qualify for the semi-finals but besides Gonzales only tournament top seed Isidro Perez made it through, and that was due to his clash with the American Rayonta Whitfield ending as a draw. It was a tight, action-packed contest all the way through and Whitfield was probably unlucky not to escape with a win, as he landed his punches with more accuracy and appeared to inflict more damage. Perez takes on Panama's Hilario Zapata in the semi-finals after Zapata was far too good for Eric Ortiz in claiming a unanimous decision win. Gonzales squares off against the Argentinian Omar Narvaez, who made short work of the promising but inexperienced Jorge Arce. Narvaez scored a 3rd round knockout, dropping Arce with a jolting right cross thirty seconds into the frame.