Rabanales Retains His Title Again

It’s hard to get excited over a boxing match when the two fighters have lost a combined 21 fights, but Victor Rabanales and Dio Andujar excited the crowd of 4,377 at the Forum on Monday night.

Rabanales, from Mexico City, won a unanimous decision over Filipino Dio Andujar and retained his World Boxing Council bantamweight championship a fifth time.

Rabanales (34-10-2), 30, is a late bloomer. Despite his relatively poor record for a champion, he’s 20-1-1 in his last 22 fights. Andujar (39-12-2), 24, learned his trade in Manila, but now trains in Stockton and Los Angeles under Jimmy Montoya.

The winner fought most of the way with cuts over both eyes and was often troubled by blood running into his eye.

Afterward, Rabanales said both cuts were caused by head butts.

“I might’ve knocked him out if it weren’t for the butts,” he said through an interpreter.

The bout followed a dreadful 10-round heavyweight match between Levi Billups and Nathanial Fitch, won by Billups on a decision. The boos had hardly died down when Rabanales and Andujar were going at it toe-to-toe.

Rabanales spent the early rounds concentrating on hooks to Andujar’s ribs, while the Filipino was head-hunting for all 12 rounds.

The judges had Rabanales winning by 118-110, 117-111 and 116-13. The Times card had Rabanales, 115-114.

The second round was the fight’s best, with both 118-pounders landing solid shots repeatedly. By the fourth, Rabanales seemed to be wearing Andujar down with solid punches to the ribs. During the sixth round, Andujar launched his last all-out assault with a minute to go, rocking the champion with a right-left combination. But Andujar was running out of steam in the last 20 to 30 seconds of each round, and Rabanales was taking full advantage of it.