Williams Scraps to Keep Title

It seemed likely that Tim Williams would have a pretty easy time defending his state middleweight title at The Country Club in Reseda Tuesday night.

After all, his original opponent, Larry Musgrove, had dropped out last week, leaving Roberto Rosiles of Blythe as a fill-in. Rosiles had just eight days to prepare. That might not be bad for a veteran, but this is a 19-year-old who had never fought more than six rounds.

Until Tuesday.

Rosiles was not only around after six, but he nearly knocked Williams out in the eighth, sending the San Diego fighter crashing through the ropes with a solid right.

The 27-year-old Williams, however, got back in the ring and the fight to narrowly win the 12-round main event on a split decision.

There were no other knockdowns.

Williams was declared the winner by judges Dick Young (115-112) and Chuck Hassett (116-112). The third judge, Eddie Rodriguez, scored it for Rosiles, 115-114.

“He didn’t show me anything,” Williams said of Rosiles, discounting the knockdown punch, “except that he was durable, very durable. He recuperated well.”

Both fighters had plenty from which to recuperate. Each suffered a cut over the left eye and, by the time the final bell had rung, their trunks, both silky white at the start, were a pale shade of red from flowing blood.

Rosiles’ corner constantly complained their man was the victim of head butts.

“They should have taken a few rounds away from Williams,” said Oscar Gracia, Rosiles’ manager. “This is terrible. It’s robbery.”

Williams, 159 1/2, improved to 14-3-1 with 11 knockouts. Rosiles, 159 3/4, is 10-3-1 with nine knockouts.

Ralph Gutierrez of Los Angeles got the night off to an explosive start by knocking out Roberto Lopez of Glendale at 2:52 of the first round of their scheduled five-round junior featherweight bout.

Gutierrez (8-14-5, five knockouts) put Lopez (4-2, four knockouts) down with a solid left hook about a minute into the round, then finished him off with a straight left.

Lightweight Oscar Ornelas of the City of Commerce evened his record at 4-4-2 with two knockouts by winning a five-round split decision over Danny Garcia (8-4-1, two knockouts) of Oxnard.

In another lightweight match, Ruben Proa of San Diego also fought his way back to the .500 mark, boosting his record to 9-9 with two knockouts by winning a unanimous six-round decision over Derrick Hudson of Bakersfield.

Hudson fell to 7-13-2 with three knockouts.