Brazil’s Teixeira Wins on Golden Boy Card; Ochoa Adds W, Too

LOS ANGELES-After nearly getting caught, Brazil’s Patrick Teixeira rallied in the seventh round to stop Texas-tough Don Mouton by technical knockout in their junior middleweight clash on Friday.

A large, boisterous crowd at Belasco Theater saw Brazil’s Teixeira (26-0, 22 Kos) remain undefeated against rugged Mouton (13-10-1, 11 Kos). The Golden Boy Promotions fight card was a lively prelude to Saturday’s big card at the StubHub Center.

Teixeira battered and bashed Mouton but was unable to hurt the Texan for the first five rounds. Mouton’s eye swelled early in the fight but he was able to pressure the Brazilian every round.

In the fifth round, Mouton caught the Brazilian and had the taller fighter reeling across the ring. Teixeira survived, barely.

Teixeira ramped up his offense in the next round and battered Mouton even more aggressively. A big punch closed Mouton’s right eye and Teixeira rammed more blows on Mouton. Referee Raul Caiz Jr. stopped the fight at 1:31 of the seventh round for a technical knockout win for Teixeira.

Brooklyn’s Zachary “Zungry” Ochoa (13-0, 6 Kos) blasted out Guadalajara’s veteran scrapper Alejandro Rodriguez (24-19-1, 14 Kos) at 22 seconds of round three to win their junior welterweight fight. Ochoa was much quicker and caught Rodriguez at the end of the first round with a perfect left to the chin to score a knockdown. The Mexican fighter got up and was nearly dropped at the bell.

Ochoa wasted no time in the second round as he scampered across the ring and fired several consecutive rights that floored the Mexican veteran again. He got up but was met with several more right hand blasts and referee Zachary Young ended the fight; it was Ochoa’s sixth knockout win.

“A win over a veteran like him says a lot. I was staying calm and not letting him get too comfortable,” Ochoa said.

Junior middleweights Antonio Gutierrez of Tijuana, Mexico and Victor Fonseca of San Diego engaged in a brutal war for six rounds. Gutierrez (19-1-1, 8 Kos) was hurt by Fonseca (9-6-1, 7 Kos) in the fourth round but was able to ground out an attack to win by unanimous decision. Both sustained heavy punishment in the war between border cities.

Francisco Ochoa (3-0) stopped Isaac Avalos (0-1) with a body shot at 2:29 of the first round to win the lightweight clash by knockout. Ochoa fights out of L.A. and Avalos is from Tijuana, Mexico.

Pablo Rubio Jr. was looking for knockout number three but Guadalajara’s Adrian Rodriguez (1-8-1) proved to be a stubborn and resilient southpaw. Rodriguez had his moments in the second and fourth rounds but not enough to convince all three judges. One judge scored it even 38-38, but two others saw it 39-37 and 40-36 for the much taller Rubio by majority decision in a super bantamweight showdown.

“He made it a difficult fight with his awkward style,” said Rubio.

San Antonio’s Joshua Franco (2-0) jumped on Tijuana’s taller Saul Hernandez (5-8-1) from the opening bell of a super flyweight clash. Franco, who trains with Robert Garcia in Riverside, fired nonstop on Hernandez, who had his best round in the second. Franco increased the pressure in the third round and caught Hernandez with a right cross. Down went Hernandez, who did not want to continue at 1:46 of the third round, giving Franco the technical knockout win.

Abraham Lopez (2-1, 1 KO) wasted no time in looking for the knockout over Andrew Gomez (0-3) of Texas in a junior welterweight bout. A three-punch combination ending with a left hook floored Gomez 28 seconds into round two for a knockout victory for Lopez of Rowland Heights, Calif.

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