Rociles Scores KO Over Jackson as the Show Goes On

First, Tuesday night’s main event at the Country Club in Reseda was going to feature welterweights Young Dick Tiger and Sam Ray Taylor in a 10-rounder.

But Tiger reportedly came down with the flu.

So the match was switched to middleweights--Roberto Rociles against Willie Wilson. Still 10 rounds.

But Wilson was unable to make the weight.

So early Monday, the bout was switched to Rociles against Gilbert Baptiste.

But Baptiste reportedly turned up with an ear infection.

So Monday night the fourth version of this main event was concocted: Rociles of Blythe against Cliff Jackson of San Diego in an eight-rounder.

Jackson actually showed up. At least physically. But he proceeded to fight like a man who entered the ring on 24 hours notice with a 2-8-2 record after a four-month layoff.

Rociles dominated the bout from the start, chasing Jackson around the ring for the first three rounds.

Rociles (11-3-1, 10 knockouts) finally caught his opponent, putting him down with a solid right hand late in the fourth round. Jackson got up, but referee Vince Delgado quickly moved in to stop the fight at the 2:56 mark of the round when Jackson proved unable to fight back.

Both men weighed in at 162.

Frankie Duart, North American Boxing Federation bantamweight champion, also picked up a victory on the Tuesday night card. Not in the ring--in the corner.

Duarte, making his debut as a manager/trainer, saw his fighter, lightweight Reuben Becerrada of Venice, make his first pro fight a successful one with a five-round majority decision over Paul Martinez of Stanton.

Martinez dropped to 0-2.

In the first fight of the night, featherweight Pulga Franco (2-1, two knockouts) of Los Angeles scored a TKO victory over Russ Hutchinson of San Diego.

Hutchinson was down in the first round of this, his first pro fight. He got back to his feet but never back in the fight.

Referee Chuck Hassett finally stopped the bout at 2:47 of the third round of the scheduled four-rounder.

The final preliminary fight of the night wasn’t stopped but probably should have been.

By the time the six-round featherweight bout ended, Juan Rodriguez (8-4-1) of El Monte had been down once and had a deep cut over his right eye that left blood all over him.

The judges unanimously ruled Tony Olivas of Pasadena the winner, upping his record to 3-1.