Forum Stunner: Gonzalez Loses Fight, Perfect Record and Title

Humberto Gonzalez, allegedly boxing’s hardest hitter pound-for-pound, was knocked out by a thin, little-known Filipino fighter in a stunning upset Wednesday night at the Forum.

Rolando Pascua, 25, was thought to be nothing more than cannon fodder for Mexico’s little slugger. This was just for show. It was Humberto The Great, on display. Pascua wasn’t actually supposed to win , just look decent. . . . until Gonzalez starched him.

So as it turned out, at least for the time being, Gonzalez can forget about the following:

--His unbeaten record, which fell to 29-1.

--His world light-flyweight championship, now possessed by Pascua.

--His million-dollar payday with unbeaten Phoenix light-flyweight Michael Carbajal.

All this weighed in after Pascua finished off a bleeding and somewhat battered Gonzalez in the sixth round. On hand was a crowd of 7,191, most of whom thought they had come to see Gonzalez’s 24th knockout. Instead, they watched with amazement as a polished, finely tuned, and hard-hitting Pascua, who came in with a 24-5 record (and only eight knockouts), demolished one the boxing’s bright young stars, one proclaimed in recent months by boxing publications as the sport’s most feared hitter.

And this was no fluke. At the end of five rounds, two judges had Pascua ahead, by margins of one and three points, and another had Gonzalez ahead, 48-47, as did The Times.

Gonzalez earned $35,000, Pascua $6,500.

Gonzalez was cut in the left eyelid by a head butt in the third round, and the wound bled freely for the duration. By the fifth round, Gonzalez’s eye had also begun to swell.

From the opening bell until slightly more than two minutes into the sixth, when Gonzalez was sent crashing to his back and was counted out, it was a furious, memorable fight between two 108-pound men who may have produced the Forum’s fight of the year.

When Gonzalez came out for the first bell blasting away to Pascua’s head and body, spectators crept forward in their seats, so as not to miss a knockout punch by the 5-foot-1 Mexico City fighter, who was defending his World Boxing Council light-fly title for the sixth time.

But as Pascua began backing up, be began bouncing right jabs off Gonzalez’s head. At first, Gonzalez ignored the jabs, wading through them with wicked right uppercuts and left hooks to the ribs. But midway through the first, Pascua stopped dead in his tracks a couple of times and landed flurries of punches to Gonzalez’s head.

With 30 seconds left in the first round, another curious thing happened. Gonzalez landed a thumping right uppercut under Pascua’s chin . . . and it didn’t hurt the Filipino. Didn’t even wobble him.

Early in the second, both exchanged punches in a furious exchange and Pascua held his own. By the end of the second, Gonzalez had landed a half-dozen punches that against other opponents, on other nights, were knockout-worthy.

But not tonight.

Pascua, from Talisay City, the Philippines, finished off the champion as Gonzalez had flattened so many others in his reign--first by a smashing body punch, then with brutal shots to the head. Gonzalez was having a bad sixth when the end came, but he wasn’t out on his feet, either.

At center-ring, a right hand to Gonzalez’s ribs brought his hands down. Then came a crashing series of head blows, followed by a double right and a left hook. Referee Marty Sammon counted Gonzalez out at 2:24 of the sixth.

Pascua’s cornermen launched a wild celebration as their fighter, a bit overwhelmed by it all, cried.

“I knew I could knock him out in the third round, when I hurt him the first time,” he said later, through an interpreter. “He never hurt me.”

Pascua, who not only had never fought in the United States but had never been in the country until last week.

Gonzalez, who by the time the postfight interview began had a black eye and seven stitches in his brow, said the third-round head butt finished him, in effect.

“After the head butt, I had nothing,” he said.