Akeem Knocks Out Mijares in First

Kid Akeem retained his North American Boxing Federation super flyweight title with a first-round knockout ofRicardo Mijares of Mexico City before 1,200 fans at the Sports Arena Tuesday night.

Akeem (21-0), ranked third by the World Boxing Council, floored Mijares with an overhand right at 1:37 of the first round.

Akeem, a native of Nigeria who fights out of Las Vegas, set up the right hand with a left jab. Mijares finally staggered to his feet at the count of 10, but he couldn’t stand up straight and the referee stopped the bout.

“No one can beat him,” said Billy Baxter, Akeem’s manager. “We’ve been having trouble finding anyone to fight him.”

Seventeen of Akeem’s victories have come by knockout.

“Early in his career he wasn’t knocking anyone out, but now that’s all he does. That’s how Sugar Ray Leonard was too,” Baxter said of Akeem, 22.

Mijares (29-6), who had never boxed outside Mexico, fought for the Mexican flyweight championship last year, but lost a decision to Willy Salazar.

Akeem’s handspeed edge was evident early and it appeared Mijares never saw Akeem’s right hand coming.

In the first of the two main events, NABF flyweight champion Isaias Zamudio of Blythe (20-3, eight knockouts) won a unanimous 10-round decision over Jose Herrera of Mexicali (16-5, 14 knockouts).

The victory was Zamudio’s third over Herrera in three fights. All of Zamudio’s victories have come by decisions.

Herrera was the aggressor throughout the fight, but Zamudio’s crisp counterpunching attack gave him nearly every round--one judge had Zamudio winning all 10 rounds.

Zamudio seemed to have an answer for everything Herrera threw, and then he usually came back with a combination of short, quick punches that scored to Herrera’s head.

Herrera landed some solid left hooks to Zamudio’s jaw several times, but they didn’t seem faze Zamudio.

In January, Zamudio, ranked 16th by the World Boxing Assn., won a close 10-round decision from Herrera.

On the undercard, Nisael Espino (2-3-1) of Tijuana won a unanimous four-round decision over Rickey Bynum (2-1-1) of Pensacola, Fla. in a battle of super lightweights. Super middleweight Ricky Simms (4-3) of Rancho Cucamonga stopped Jessie Lanton (11-4) of Pensacola at 2:25 of the first round. The referee ended the bout after a left uppercut dropped Lanton for the third time.

In the first bout, light-heavyweight Billy Lewis of Pensacola raised his record to 9-0 with a six-round split decision victory over Abel Asinamali (1-2-1) of Westminster.