Roman Downed in Fourth but Wins Fight at Forum

Gilberto Roman survived a powerful left hook that put him on the seat of his pants in the fourth round at the Forum Monday night and went on to register a unanimous decision over Juan Carazo to retain his World Boxing Council super-flyweight championship.

Roman (52-4-1) was making his 11th defense of a championship he has held twice. Carazo (22-2) had won six straight fights before Monday night.

It was a lively, fast-paced bout before a crowd of 5,197, pitting a pair of 115-pounders who put each other down in a wild fourth round. After that, the bout descended at times to a foul-plagued contest, with Roman whacking Carazo inside with the side of his skull and Carazo seemingly retaliating with an occasional low blow.

Roman, of Mexicali, Mexico, lost only a few middle rounds in the eyes of the judges, who had Roman the winner by scores of 117-111, 118-110 and 116-112.

Carazo, a Puerto Rican, scored the more emphatic of the fourth-round knockdowns when he put Roman down for an eight count with 45 seconds left in the round. Carazo, who was the WBC’s No. 1 contender, came out of a clinch with a left hand launched from the general region of his shoetops, and it caught Roman on the chin.

It was a stunner, particularly since a minute into the round, Roman had decked Carazo with a right-left combination.

In a preliminary bout in the Forum’s super-featherweight tournament, Benny Lopez of Upland (13-5) scored a 10-round split decision over Edgar Castro (24-4-1) of Miami.

And in a bout that followed the main event, Kelcie Banks, the U.S. Olympic team featherweight who was knocked unconscious by Dutch boxer Rogelio Tur at Seoul last summer, was stopped in his second pro bout.

Banks was handily beating Leonardo Moreno of Santa Paula this time when he was caught by a wild right hand. Banks went down, became entangled in the ropes--and the bout was stopped in the third round.