Timothy Bradley Keeps His O

CORONA, CALIF.-Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley found that the body doesn’t move in beating Mexico’s Miguel Vasquez in a battle of undefeated fighters at Omega Products International on Friday.

Bradley showed the crowd of more than 3,000 people in the outdoor arena that he’s ready to step into the elite class of junior welterweights with his rugged win over Vasquez. It was also the last defense of his WBC Youth junior welterweight title.

“I knew the fight was going to be tough, he’s Mexican,” said Bradley (21-0, 11 KOs). I give him a lot of credit he’s a good fighter.”

Both fighters opened up slowly with Vasquez using his jab and grabbing Bradley with his long arms when he got close. A couple of stinging body punches scored for the Indio fighter.

Two and three punch combinations by Vasquez at the end of round two gave the round to the Guadalajara fighter.

Bradley returned to firing body punches and firing jabs to score in the third round. Vasquez landed a three-punch combinations but with little power.

Some more body work by Bradley opened up the head for three-punch combinations. A right hand counter by Vasquez was not enough to win the round. Bradley seemed to be finding more room to fire blows in the fourth round.

Bradley hurt Vasquez with numerous blows to the body forcing the Mexican fighter to drop his hands to defend his abdomen. It was a big round for Bradley.

Vasquez tried to rally in the sixth round and found room for his right uppercut to score. But Bradley’s body attack proved effective and a four-round combination won the round for the Indio fighter.

In the seventh round Vasquez found his jab effective in keeping Bradley from gaining momentum. A right hand counter by Bradley and body shots made the round close.

Vasquez charged Bradley several times but the Indio fighter moved to the side and countered with a hard left counter and right to the head to stop the threat in a slow eighth round.

The ninth round proved close with Vasquez using his jab to keep Bradley at bay. But a flurry of body shots seemed to hurt the Mexican fighter at the end of the round.

In the final round both fighters fired their best shots but neither landed a decisive blow.

Bradley used his strength to keep the wiry fighter from pushing him back and was able to land a few body shots to win the last round.

“He was strong and he didn’t want to go down,” Bradley said. “ So now I go back and train and watch my weight. I’d like to be lighter on my feet.”

The judges scored the fight 100-90, 99-91, 98-92.

“I thought the fight was much closer. He was grabbing a lot,” said Vasquez (19-1, 9 KOs) who plans to fight for the IBU title in September.

Bradley will be fighting on Sept. 7 at the Chumash Casino. The contest will be televised. He’s also awaiting a call to fight a world-class junior welterweight like Vivian Harris.

“That’s my dream to fight a guy like that,” said Bradley.

Other bouts

Pomona’s Ivan Stovall knocked down Sacramento’s Ernesto Castaneda (9-7-1) in the third round and eighth round with left hooks and basically out-powered the clever fighter over the course of eight rounds in a super middleweight bout. The three judges scored it the same 80-74.

“He kept putting his head down and low dipping to make it seem like I was hugging him,” Stovall (9-1, 6 KOs) said about his opponent. “I want another eight rounder and want to get down to my original weight of 160.”

A fight between cruiserweights pitted two undefeated fighters Oklahoma’s Eric Fields (7-0, 6 KOs) against Mexico’s Ramiro Reducindo in a scheduled six round fight. It only went two as Fields used two left hooks to the body and two right hands to the head to score a knockout at 1:39 of the first round. Reducindo (8-1, 6 KOs) was counted out by referee Jose Cobian.

Oxnard’s Obed Pamatz (1-0) scored a fourth round technical knockout over Nicaragua’s Misael Martinez (0-4). Referee David Denkin stopped the fight at 1:25 of the last round in a junior bantamweight contest as Martinez was getting pounded by lefts and rights. At the conclusion Martinez began vomiting and the ringside physician Dr. Bear Gamboa decided to ambulance the fighter to Riverside Memorial Hospital for observation. The fighter seemed clear-eyed but Gamboa deemed it necessary to hospitalize Martinez. After two hours Martinez was released, said matchmaker Alex Camponovo.

In a light heavyweight bout Fontana’s Jesus Berrelleza (1-0) scored a second round technical knockout over Lancaster’s Ryan Davis (0-1) with a five-punch combination ignited by a left hook at 1:36. It was both fighters pro debut.