Nwokolo Posts Win to Keep Championship Hopes Alive

Charles Nwokolo, a.k.a. Young Dick Tiger, showed his title hopes are not dead with a 10-round unanimous decision over Ruben Villaman of Tijuana in a junior middleweight bout Tuesday at the Country Club in Reseda.

Originally from Nigeria but now living in Hollywood, Nwokolo had lost his last two fights, both title bouts, but he rebounded against Villaman to the delight of heavyweight Michael Dokes, who was cheering from the wings.

Nwokolo (13-8, five knockouts), who adopted the nom de guerre Young Dick Tiger in honor of uncle Dick Tiger, a former world champion, took control in the third round against Villaman (26-14-1, 23 knockouts).

The compactly-built Tiger, wearing (what else?) tiger-striped shorts, opened a large cut on Villaman’s right temple in the ninth round.

In other bouts:

Hector Pena (2-1, 2 knockouts), who trains at the Jet Center in Van Nuys and lives in Wilmington, was knocked out at 2 minutes and 28 seconds into the second round of a junior welterweight match against Aaron Brown (9-11, 6 knockouts) of Los Angeles.

Junior featherweight Margito Arreola (3-3-1, 1 knockout) of Los Angeles led off the evening with a four-round unanimous decision over Leopoldo Maya (1-4-1, 1 knockout), also of Los Angeles.

Carlton Brooks and Stewart Baynes clutched, grabbed and leaned their way through an eight-round welterweight fight.

Brooks (11-6-2, 3 knockouts) won a majority decision over Baynes (9-11, 5 knockouts) of Pasadena.

Ray McElroy (6-0, 5 knockouts) of Long Beach earned a technical knockout over Hawthorne’s Robert Carson (6-3-2, 4 knockouts). The middleweight match ended at 1:32 in the fourth when Carson took an elbow to the ear.