Junior Welterweight Taylor Beats Opponent From Bell Hands Down

It had been six months since Sam Ray Taylor of San Diego had been in the ring, six months since the night he fractured his left hand in a fight against Thomas Perez.

Would the hand ever be as good as new?

Maybe better.

Tuesday night, Taylor made a triumphant return to action in the scheduled 10-round main event at the Reseda Country Club with a convincing TKO victory over Pedro Aguirre of Bell.

And it was the left hand that decided the junior welterweight match. Just 49 seconds into the second round, Taylor delivered a devastating uppercut that not only floored Aguirre but also opened a huge cut on the inside of Aguirre’s right eye. Referee Kenny Davis took one look at the flowing blood and never even bothered to count.

Taylor began the fight jabbing with his left, but midway through the first round, his confidence in the hand restored, he switched to a southpaw style and Aguirre was unable to adjust.

“Once I saw an opening,” Taylor said, “I went right up the middle.”

The win boosted Taylor (145 1/2) to 11-4-1 with eight knockouts. Aguirre (141) is 12-3.

In the 10-round semi-main event, junior lightweight Gustavo Lopez of Los Angeles improved his record to 10-16-5, winning a unanimous decision over Kelvin Lampkin (16-19) of Muncie, Ind.

Featherweight Daniel Garcia of Los Angeles won a unanimous decision in his eight-round bout against Jorge Rodriguez of Bell. Garcia (10-7-1) put Rodriguez down in the first round, but Rodriguez (14-8-2) got off the canvas and back in the fight before losing a close match.

Junior welterweight Art Lizarraga of Bakersfield used a left-right combination to floor Lupe Hernandez of Guadalajara, Mexico, in the second round of their scheduled six-rounder.

But like Rodriguez before him, Hernandez (16-7-1) got back to his feet and forced Lizarraga to go the distance. As the match wore on, Lizarraga (8-2-1) seemed to wear out. Because Hernandez was never able to mount any type of a charge of his own, however, Lizarraga still piled up enough points to win a unanimous decision.

In the night’s final fight, lightweight Ruben Maclis of La Paz, Baja California, won a unanimous decision in his four-round match against Margarito Gonzales of Mexico City to even his record at 4-4. Gonzales’ loss was only his second in 11 fights.