Chavez Delivers Eighth-Round Knockout

Ernie Chavez started his welterweight fight against Javier Moreno with a serious look in his eyes Monday night.

But less then two minutes into the fight, it was more a look of confusion after Chavez was tagged with a pair of strong rights.

But Chavez was able to recover and scored an eighth-round knockout in the main event in front of 1,286 at the Irvine Marriott.

After a shaky first round in which Chavez’s knees buckled, the Santa Ana boxer took quick control in the second and won each round thereafter.

Chavez (9-0) established a different tone in the second round with a series of strong right jabs.

He maintained his punishing pace until the fight stopped 1:59 into the eighth round.

Moreno had to be taken out of the ring on a stretcher and apparently suffered a broken rib, according to Michael DeLuca, the ringside doctor.

Chavez had worked several punches to Moreno’s body during the fight and they seemed to have finally taken their toll.

In the eighth, Chavez had Moreno trapped on the ropes and landed a series of combinations, the final of which buckled Moreno.

Moreno (12-8) of Los Angeles wandered across the ring, and Chavez moved in for a right hook to the body than ended the fight.

“It was more an accumulation of punches than any one,” Chavez said. “Jackie (McCoy, his trainer) told me that I had to work the body and not let him get his confidence. It was the hardest I’ve ever worked in a fight.

“I had him against the ropes and landed good punches downstairs. That was the one that did it. I could see the way he went across the ring that he was done.”

Just minutes after the fight, Chavez’s right eye had swollen considerably as he spoke with reporters and well-wishers.

“This really didn’t happen on any one punch,” he said about his eye. “It was a series of trivial things that happen in a good inside fight. The punch that got me in the first round was between the middle of my eyes.”

In the semifinal main event, Jimmy Nakahara of the Westminster Boxing Club scored a third-round knockout over Mario Camacho of Gardena.

It was the professional debut for both.

Nakahara pinned Camacho on the ropes and landed several powerful punches in the third round.

Camacho hung on until the final 10 seconds of the third round, when Nakahara delivered a combination that dropped Camacho and ended the fight.