Pablo Cano, De La Hoya and Taishan Win At Fantasy Springs Casino

INDIO, CALIF-Mexico’s Pablo Cano won a slugfest against Dominican Republic’s Juan Abreu by majority decision after 10 brutal rounds at Fantasy Springs Casino on Friday.

Before more than 2,200 fans in the packed arena at the Indio casino, welterweight contender Cano (29-4-1, 21 Kos) had a little bit too much experience and used it against the hard-hitting Abreu (18-2, 17 Kos). Both welters absorbed crackling shots from each other.

Cano and Abreu were late replacements for the IBF world title fight defense by Randy Caballero, who suffered an injury and was not able to perform. The welterweights willingly accepted the fight and it turned out to be a heck of a battle.

In the beginning Abreu had the speed advantage as Cano measured the distance and style of his opponent. Before going into the fight many fans knew that Cano could take a punch, but after a few rounds it was obvious that Abreu has a world class chin too.

For a few rounds Abreu was able to use his speed to out-connect Cano. But soon the Mexican contender began catching the Dominican at the end of every exchange. Things turned around quickly and Abreu’s speed began to fade.

Around the seventh round Abreu and Cano began exchanging furious bombs. Cano was still landing but Abreu kept taking them without a sweat. In the final round Abreu resorted back to his speed and was able to score. Even after the bell Abreu scored, to the anger of Cano.

One judge Max DeLuca scored it a draw, but judges Pat Connally and Pat Russell scored it 96-94, 97-93 respectively for Cano.

In the semi-main event super bantamweight Diego De La Hoya (9-0, 6 Kos) defeated Manuel Roman (17-4-3, 6 Kos) by unanimous decision after eight rounds. De La Hoya stepped up in class to defeat Roman, who last year challenged world champion Leo Santa Cruz.

De La Hoya was too fast for Roman and was able to land his combinations repeatedly. Roman was able to land body blows but nothing more. All three judges scored it 80-72 for De La Hoya, the cousin of Oscar De La Hoya.

China’s giant heavyweight Taishan (3-0, 2 Kos) connected twice to put Roy McCrory (3-3, 3 Kos) down and win by unanimous decision after four rounds. Taishan knocked down McCrory twice with counter right hands.

It was a very good win for Taishan who fought a very competitive opponent in McCrory.

Other winners were Brazil’s Everton Lopes, Neeco Macias, Oscar Negrete and Nick Arce.

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