[Crimson]

QUARTER-FINAL TITLE FIGHTS
Chungmu Gymnasium; Chungmu, Korea
Friday, July 3rd, 1992

Vegas odds:
Vuyani Nene 3-1 Rafael Torres
Fahlan Lukmingkwan EVEN $ Kermin Guardia
Ricardo Lopez 7-1 Manny Melchor
Hi-Yong Choi 10-1 Danny Porter

Only about 4,000 of the available 8,000 seats at the Chugmu Gymnasium were sold. Perhaps it was due to the high price, or maybe it was due to only 1 Korean being on the card? With all 4 of the fights being for world titles, tickets were sold at twice the normal price.

The first fight of the night featured the relatively unknown WBO title holder Rafael Torres 11-0 (0) from the Domincan Republic against the highly experienced Vuyani Nene of South Africa 33-3 (18). Nene was coming off a unanimous decision win over Rocky Lin from less than a month ago. He was cut over the right eye in that fight and unable to do any sparring in preparation for his title challenge of Torres. The Nene camp believed his experience and extra roadwork would secure Nene the WBO strap and advance him in the Straw Weight World Championship Tournament. Odds makers had Nene installed as a 3-1 favorite.

Nene struggled badly to make weight and spent an hour in the sauna wearing a wet suit in order to lose the required amount. He came into the ring bone dry. Nene's difficulty making weight didn’t seem to matter in the 1st round when a short uppercut dropped Torres for the count of 3. Thinking he had the 25 year old title holding Torres ready to go, and not wanting the fight to go into the later rounds, Nene rushed out in the 2nd looking to end matters quickly. Torres had other plans and knocked Nene to the canvas for a flash knockdown. Nene was up before the referee had counted to 3.

Rounds 3, 4, and 5 all belonged to the WBO title holder, as he peppered Nene with jabs and right hands. Nene returned to his corner with a sizable mouse under his right eye at the end of the 5th. Torres continued to box superbly in the through the 7th, while Nene appeared to be sleepwalking.

Although winning rounds, Torres looked to be very tired at the end of the 8th round. In the 9th, with a little over 2 minutes left in the round, Nene landed the best shot of the night. A sweet hook to Torres body and the Dominican crummbled to the canvas clutching his side. When the referee’s count reached 8 it was clear Torres would be unable to rise! The winner by knockout at 2:08 of the 9th, in a sudden turn of a events, and new WBO Straw Weight World title holder….Vuyani Nene!
Vuyani Nene KO9 Rafael Torres

Though 5 rounds of boxing IBF belt holder Fahlan Lukmingkwan outboxed and outworked Columbia’s Kermin Guardia. The television boxing expert, Joe Koizumi, had if 5 to zip Lukmingkwan. Guardia’s left eye was closing fast and he had yet to find an offensive weapon that was effectice vs. the champ. Even the help of his Miami trainer, Angelo Dundee, wasn't providing Guardia the help he needed to be effective.

Guardia won his first round of the fight in the 7th, when the Thailander took a rest. In the 8th Lukmingwan went back on the offensive and began teeing off on Guardia’s head. The referee, Massimo Barrovecchio of Italy, was taking a very close look at Guardia as the round went on. With his rapidly closing eye, Guardia's ability to see the punches coming at him was greatly compromised.

When Guardia came out for the 11th his left eye was a mere slit and was still bleeding from a cut sustained below it in the 10th. Finally Lukmingkwan landed the coup de grace and put Guardia down for the full count. The Thailand fighter, with the heavy hands, now advances to title unification match against newly crowned WBO boss Vuyani Nene.
Fhalan Lukmingkwan KO11 Kermin Guardia

Mexican WBC title holder Ricardo “Finito” Lopez, entered the ring having made 3 title defenses since winning it in 1990. He was widely regarded as the best in the division with the most legitimate claim to being the true Straw Weight World Champion, based mostly upon his ring superiority over opponents. Lopez was eager to unify the world titles and prove that he was the WORLD CHAMPION.

Manny Melchor entered the ring brimming with his own confidence, having only one loss on his record and his impressive win last month against the world rated Thansaq of South Africa. Melchor showed no signs of being intimidated by the reputation and impressive 33-0 (22) record of Lopez.

In the 1st Lopez jumped right on Melchor bulling him around the ring, while taking the fight to close quarters. It was apparent that Lopez had little to no respect for Melchor’s power and would make it a short night’s work if presented the opportunity. Melchor fought back as best he could, but lacked the fire power to keep Lopez off him.

At the end of the 4th, Melchor was already breathing from his mouth and both eyes were beginning to swell shut. In the 5th Melchor took a steady beating. His hands were now by his sides to protect his body from the vicious assault his ribs were taking. Meanwhile both of his eyes continued to swell, with the left now halfway closed.

Early in the 6th another brutal body shot sent Melchor to the canvas. He attempted to rise at 7 and either was unable to or thought better of it (wisely some might say, if he did), and was counted out. “The winner by KO at 0:34 of the 6th round and STILL…..the WBC Champion…..RICARDO LOPEZ!!!!” shouted the ring announcer in Korean.
Ricardo Lopez KO6 Manny Melchor

Danny Porter entered the ring first, and as had been the case in many of his fights he was a significant underdog. Las Vegas odds makers had installed the WBA belt holder, Hi-Yong Choi, as a 10-1 favorite. As impressive as Porter was in his last fight, while upsetting Japan’s Hideyuki Ohashi, by unanimous decision, on the hostile home venue of his world class opponent, it was a surprise to see him listed as a double digit underdog.

The Englishman appeared to be unfazed by the magnitude of his first ever World Title challenge, and vowed to do same as he does for all of his fights. Reportedly Porter focused on increasing his strength in between fights and also struggled to make the straw weight limit.

Choi appeared focused and ready to fight well in front of his home fans. Porter came out in the 1st winging shots from his heels, looking to catch Choi unawares. Choi came out in the 1st looking to land some hurting punches of his own. The two exchanged blows fairly evenly until Porter seemed to hurt Choi with less than 30 seconds to go in the round.

The 2nd round was bell to bell action and difficult to pick a winner of. In what had been his best round of the fight, Choi had 1 point taken away by Micky Vann for an intentional headbutt call.

Through 5 rounds Porter had been unable to land any blows of significant hurt on Choi. This changed for the first time in the 6th, when a Porter right hand to the body caused Choi to grimace noticeably. Choi responded in kind and deposited Porter on the canvas for the count of 6. As he has done in previous fights, Porter showed that he is not easy to count out.

Porter tore into Choi in the 7th with a vigor that had been missing since the 4th round. Choi soon found himself on the canvas courtesy of a Porter combination! It was more of the same in the 8th, and Choi again found himself on the canvas!

Choi had perhaps his best round in the 9th, when he sent Porter reeling into the ropes with a two fisted attack of one twos. Porter looked to be dead tired and on his last legs. Before the bell tolled, Porter found himself on the canvas for the 2nd time in the fight. Porter hung onto Choi as best he could to survive the round and was somehow able to do so.

Porter had virtually nothing left in the 10th round after he went down 3 more times referee Micky Vann stopped the fight. Hi-Yong Choi retained his WBA title and earned the right to face Ricardo Lopez in a title unification match.
Hi-Yong Choi TKO10 Danny Porter