Mercer Stops Morrison in the Fifth Round, Keeps Title

Unbeaten heavyweight Ray Mercer scored a fifth-round knockout over previously undefeated Tommy Morrison to retain his World Boxing Organization title Friday night.

Referee Tony Perez stopped the bout 28 seconds into the round as Morrison lay defenseless on the ropes.

Morrison came out the aggressor in the first round, rocking Mercer midway with a right uppercut and left hook. Mercer, 18-0 with 13 knockouts, had trouble catching up to the faster Morrison.

Morrison, 28-1 with 24 knockouts, landed occasionally with uppercuts in the third round. Mercer, who had never gone beyond six rounds, finally showed some life in the fourth, beating Morrison to the punch with several left hooks.

In the 1988 Olympics trials, Mercer scored a three-round decision over Morrison and went on to win the gold medal at the Games in Seoul. Morrison went on to star as Tommy Gunn in “Rocky V.”

On the undercard, International Boxing Federation junior flyweight champion Michael Carbajal struggled to win a unanimous decision over Jesus Chong in a 10-round non-title bout.

Carbajal, 22-0 with 13 knockouts, and Chong came out swinging in the early rounds with the challenger managing to land with the right hand fairly consistently against the champion, who scored well with left-right combinations.

Chong, 13-3 with 10 knockouts, seemed to gain confidence through the middle rounds, exploiting a cut that developed over Carbajal’s left eye in the sixth.

But the champion continued to land punches, content to enter frequent exchanges.

Carbajal dropped Chong with a short right hand early in the eighth round. Chong got up at the count of three and traded blows the rest of the round.

The last two rounds were a slugfest with both landing squarely and often to each other’s chin.

Judges Frank Cairo and Eugene Grant scored the bout 97-92. Al DeVito scored it 97-93.