Magdaleno Gets Victory in 10 Rounds : Boxing: Quickness in late rounds gives Westminster resident the unanimous decision at Irvine Marriott.

Light heavyweights Ivan Rukavina and Ernie Magdaleno came into the main event Thursday at the Irvine Marriott with the same number of professional fights--eight.

But it was clear that Rukavina of Melbourne, Australia, was the more experienced fighter. He had 33 fights as an amateur and was the South Pacific Cruiserweight and the Australian light-heavyweight titleholders.

Magdaleno, of Westminster, who had only eight fights as an amateur, had not fought a 10-round bout before, but he proved to be the better fighter Thursday, winning a unanimous decision in front of 1,040.

All three judges agreed Magdaleno won by the score of 97-93.

Magdaleno (9-0) had taken on only one fighter with more than five pro bouts before Thursday.

“I wanted this fight because I knew how good he was,” Magdaleno, 28, said. “I needed this fight to see where I was at and should I continue. If I would have lost badly, I probably would have quit.”

Instead, Magdaleno is ready to go on and fight again as soon as possible, realizing that age isn’t on his side.

Rukavina’s style--head first and punches to the body--seemed to wear out Magdaleno by the sixth round. He looked tired and was pinned against the ropes for most of that round and part of the seventh.

But late in the seventh and the rest of the way, Magdaleno was by far the quicker fighter.

He used his fast jabs to get inside of Rukavina, who slowed a great deal in the final three rounds.

“In the eighth, ninth and 10th,” Magdaleno said, “I could feel like I caught a second wind. I knew his style and how he would come at me. I felt he was stronger and he hurt me with some punches, but toward the end, I was quicker and my jab was the difference.”

Magdaleno’s best chance for a knockout came in the eighth round, when he hurt Rukavina, but when the tape came loose on Rukavina’s gloves, timeout was called and the Australian regrouped.

On the undercard:

Frankie Vivish of San Gabriel scored an impressive third-round knockout in the semi-main event. Vivish, a bantamweight, dominated Cornelio Lucatero of Mexico from the start. He finally dropped him with a body shot at 2 minutes 33 seconds of the third round.

Vivish improved to 6-0 with three knockouts. Lucatero is 6-2.