One other battle, one other early night time for Ernesto ‘Tito’ Mercado.
The junior welterweight remained unbeaten after a fourth-round stoppage of Deiner Berrio Friday night time on the Crimson Owl Boxing Enviornment in Houston, Texas. The one-sided affair ended when Berrio refused to come back out of his nook initially of the fourth spherical.
Mercado—who hails from the Los Angeles suburb of Pomona—harm Berrio halfway by means of the opening spherical. A left hook to the physique brought on Berrio to wince in ache and again away from Mercado.
At some stage in the battle, Mercado stalked Berrio, inactive since 2021 and largely regarded to counter with single proper crosses. Colombia’s Berrio—who resides in L.A.—not often engaged in exchanges. He as a substitute selected to cowl up along with his again in opposition to the ropes or in a nook.
In spherical three, a proper cross to the pinnacle momentarily shocked the 33-year-old Berrio. Mercado continued to stroll Berrio down however was unable to ship him to the canvas.
Berrio remained on his stool to start out spherical 4, with no cause given as to why he was not in a position to proceed. Referee Alejandro Leon waved the battle off at 10 seconds into the fourth spherical.
Mercado, 22, improved to 15-0, with 14 knockouts. He final fought on February 24 in Tijuana, Mexico, when he knocked Cristian Bielma out within the second spherical. Mercado fought 5 instances, which included knockout wins over veterans Henry ‘Hank’ Lundy and Jeremia Nakathila.
Berrio fell to 22-5-1, 14 KOs and has now misplaced 5 of his final seven fights.
UNDERCARD RESULTS
Atlanta’s Carlos Jackson scored a fifth-round stoppage over Alexis Bastar in a foul-filled co-feature.
Early in spherical three, Jackson dropped Cancun’s Bastar to the canvas. Replays confirmed the punch landed barely under the beltline. Referee James Inexperienced issued an eight-count anyway, which prompted Bastar to rise from the deck and beat the depend.
Jackson was subsequently docked two factors for separate low blows later within the spherical.
Barely cleaner motion prevailed in spherical 4. Jackson and Bastar have been in a clench earlier than they have been separated by the referee. A proper hand by Jackson throughout the sequence landed upstairs to provide the bout’s second knockdown. Bastar beat the depend and made it out of the spherical.
Nonetheless, Bastar (18-1-3, 9 KOs) remained on his stool to start out spherical 5, citing an injured left hand. The official time of the stoppage was 10 seconds of the fifth spherical.
Light-weight Oscar Alan Perez improved to 9-0-2, 6 KOs, defeating sport Jeremiah Lewis Watts (3-2, 1 KO) of Toledo, Ohio. Scores have been 57-56, 58-55, and 59-54 for the locally-based Perez, who dropped Watts within the third spherical with a left to the physique.
Within the opening bout of the Crimson Owl Boxing card, light-weight Adrian Serrano of Salinas, California defeated Luis Gerardo (1-3) of Eagle Move, Texas by majority resolution. One choose scored the bout 38-38, whereas the opposite two judges scored the bout 39-37 and 40-36 for Serrano (3-0-1, 0 KOs).
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has coated boxing in Southern California and overseas since 2000. Francisco additionally covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He might be reached at [email protected]
Observe @FSalazarBoxing
