[Crimson]

Sunday, December 27th, 1992
Earls Court; London, England
Paul Hokinson 24-2-2 (20) England WBC WBO
vs.
Louie Espinoza 48-5-3 (45) Arizona WBA IBF
15 Rounds for Feather World Championship

AND
12 Rounds for EBU Title
9# Maurizio Stecca Italy
vs.
14# Colin McMillan England
- Italy’s Maurizio Stecca and England’s Colin McMillan would battle for the EBU title, while strengthening their claim for a right to challenge for the Feather World Championship. Since McMillan was not ranked in the top 10#, it could not be recognized as a fight for the 1# ranking and mandatory title shot.
- This was a rematch from a fight won by McMillan (Wu12) earlier in the year when he held the WBO title. The third man in the ring would be Alfredo Asaro of France.
- The odds were EVEN regarding who would win.
- The first 5 rounds were fought on fairly even terms, with McMillan being deducted 1 point in round 5 for a low blow.
- After the low blow, the action heated up significantly with Stecca taking over. In round 10 a wild overhand right put McMillan on the deck and less than 30 seconds later a flush right cross put him down for the count.
Maurizio Stecca KO10 Colin McMillan

- The Feather Weight Championship would be a 15 round rematch of the 3-29-92 “Team Championship” fight that had also taken place at “Earls Court” of London. In that fight the first 2 rounds went to Espinoza and the second 2 rounds to Hodkinson on all three judge’s cards. Neither fighter had been cut or knocked down.
- The odds were established as EVEN, despite being fought in Hodkinson’s home country.
- The honor of being the third man in the ring went to Armando Garcia of Florida.

ROUND 1: In front of a filled to capacity crowd of 18,000+, Paul Hodkinson did what few fighters did when Espinoza was the man across the ring from them, and that was take the fight right to Espinoza. It logically seemed to be an ill advised strategy, as Hodkinson would be right in the wheelhouse of the Espinoza right hand. The crowd loved it though, as did Espinoza, since exchanges were guaranteed. Hodkinson returned to his corner after the 1st round having gained Espinoza’s respect with his ability to take the Arizonian’s shots and give back heat of his own. (Hodkinson 36-24)

ROUND 2: The aggressive strategy of Hodkinson continued in round 2 and he landed several hard body blows, that figured to pay off should the fight make it into the later rounds. Espinoza received 2 warnings from the referee for holding and hitting. He also rocked Hodkinson with a laser of right hand toward the end of the round. (Espinoza 30-22)

ROUND 3: Espinoza came out for round 3 with some puffiness around his left eye (4). The two gladiators met at ring center and exchanged blows toe to toe, with Espinoza using head movement and landing the harder punches. (Espinoza 30-6)

ROUND 4: Round 4 was the best of the fight thus far. It was mostly Espinoza drilling Hodkinson for the first 2 minutes, but during minute 3 Hodkinson took over and stunned the American with a right hand. The left eye of Espinoza continued to swell (8) and appeared to be causing him some problems. (Hodkinson 28-24)

ROUND 5: Coming out for round 5 Espinoza held a 108 to 92 advantage in punches landed. On the scorecard of Ringside Expert Tom Trunzo, Espinoza was up 39 to 38. Some puffiness around the left eye (4) of Hodkinson was now visible. Early into the round Espinoza had 1 point deducted for a punch to the back of Hodkinson's neck. The punches of Hodkinson were missing and Espinoza countered each one with a hard left or right. (Espinoza 36-6)

ROUND 6: Both fighters were fouling one another and Hodkinson was warned for a low blow and Espinoza given some time to recover. An action packed round similar to round 4. On two occasions Hodkinson was on the defensive after taking a hellacious shot from Espinoza, only to suddenly unleash some firepower of his own and let Espinoza know that this fight was still up for grabs. (Hodkinson 24-17)

ROUND 7: Hodkinson fought with a different strategy this round, perhaps a sign that he was conceding that Espinoza was the stronger fighter on the inside. A very low blow from Hodkinson, once again drew a warning but no point deduction. A variety of clean hooks, right hands, and uppercuts from Hodkinson landed cleanly and Espinoza motioned for him to resume fighting him on the inside. When Espinoza was able to get on the inside, Hodkinson tied him up, which drew a warning from the referee, but also prevented Espinoza from landing the left hooks he had been raking Hodkinson with earlier in the fight. (Hodkinson 41-5)

ROUND 8: Hodkinson did plenty of holding and Espinoza was looking to take the Englishman’s head off, while refusing to be held. It was Espinoza’s best round of the fight, as he snapped back the head of Hodkinson with several punches. The left eye of each fighter was at least ½ closed (11) and causing them some problems seeing. (Espinoza 34-6)

ROUND 9: Hodkinson once again attempted to not engage with Espinoza on the inside, but the American forced him to do so, by bullying him onto the ropes and landing some horrific punches. Hodkinson had shown an amazing ability to come back when it appeared he was on the brink of defeat against Kevin Kelley, but many in the pro-Hodkinson crowd were beginning to wonder if the much harder punching Espinoza was dishing out more damage than their fighter could overcome. The Englishman was having trouble seeing out of both eyes when the bell rang to end round 9 (left eye 13, right eye 6). Espinoza was ahead on the scorecard of Ringside Expert Tom Trunzo 87 to 84. (Espinoza 30-11)

ROUND 10: Both fighters looked as if they had already fought a 12 round battle when round 10 started. The corner of Espinoza instructed him to “finish him off, he has nothing left!” After landing a nice left hook, Hodkinson was hurt by a Espinoza combination in reply. A straight right sent a staggering “Hoko” into the ropes and the referee moved in closer in case he needed to stop the fight. Hodkinson held as long as he could until the referee physically broke them. (Espinoza 17-5)

ROUND 11: Not wanting the judges to have any hand in deciding who won the fight and believing that Hodkinson no longer had anything left in the tank to hurt him, Espinzoa went all out for a finishing knockout blow. The roughhouse tactics of both continued when they were on the inside and Espinoza received yet another warning, his 5th of the fight. This one was for using his shoulder. It was a rejuvenated Hodkinson who boxed Espinoza on even terms throughout the round and making it a difficult one to score. (Hodkinson 28-21)

ROUND 12: Once again Hodkinson changed his tactics, this time taking the fight back to the inside with Espinoza. The change was welcomed by Espinoza, who teed off on the Englishman. Both of Hodkinson’s eyes were over ½ way closed and he was struggling to see the punches Espinoza threw, which was possibly why he had resumed the strategy of fighting on the inside. (Espinoza 26-6)

ROUND 13: Entering the TRUE rounds of World Championship boxing, where World Champions separate themselves from the contenders, recognition as the best in the world at 126 pounds appeared to be very close for Louie Espinoza. Struggling to see, it was a desperate Hodkinson who came out bombs away in round 13. After landing a hard left hook, “Hoko” walked into a right hand and had to use the nearby ropes to pry himself off the canvas at the count of 6. The exhausted Espinoza was unable to finish his badly hurt foe off. (Espinoza 10-5)

ROUND 14: Hodkinson was slow to get off his stool to start the round and was given his 4th warning of the fight for fouling, this time for holding and hitting. Despite his inability to see, Hodkinson managed to negate the offense of Espinoza, which had been reduced to one punch at a time, by holding and flurring. (Hodkinson 11-0)

ROUND 15: On the score card of Ringside Expert Tom Trunzo, Hodkinson needed a knockout to win, as he was losing 137 to 129. Punches landed numbers significantly favored Espinoza 304-235. The faces off both were damaged badly, Espinoza’s left eye (8) and especially the face of Hodkinson. Whose left and right eyes were (9) ½ closed. Only the expertise of Eddie Shaw in the corner of Hodkinson was preventing them from closing and the doctor from stopping the fight. In a sign of mutual respect and admiration the fighters embraced prior to the start of the final round. They resumed a battle that had provided the 18,000+ at “Earls Court” more than their money’s worth.
Several hard punches were traded and the roughhouse fouling tactics, which had been going on since round 1, became extreme. At 1:34 of the round, Espinoza rained a series of blows to the back of Hodkinson’s neck, while the Englishman was in a crouched position on the inside. When told by the referee to “get off the neck!” Espinoza hit it yet again, and this time he was disqualified!
The disqualification was received with cheers from the crowd, who believed Espinoza had been getting away with fouling their man all night. Espinoza and his corner were in shock and disbelief. On the score cards of the official judges they were less than 1:26 away from winning the FEATHER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP via a decision (Thailand judge 138-128 Espinoza, Puerto Rico judge 135-121 Espinoza, Peru judge 133-132 Hodkinson).

Paul Hodkinson Wdq15 Louie Espinoza
(wins FEATHER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP)