When Leaning In, Kim Is Knocked Out : Boxing: Carbajal’s left hook ends fight in seventh round and sets up a bout for undisputed 108-pound title. Rafael Ruelas wins.

Michael Carbajal stopped granite-chinned, always-charging Kim Kwang-Sun on Saturday night with a left hook and found himself one victory from becoming the world’s undisputed 108-pound champion.

Carbajal seemed in command throughout, but took virtually every punch Kim aimed at his head.

But Carbajal (29-0) also hit Kim (6-2) as if he owned him. And the South Korean was well-marked when the finish came. Kim had two swollen eyes, a bloody nose and swollen lips. Carbajal had a lump on his left cheekbone.

The finish was sudden, dramatic and extremely painful for Kim. As the two were coming together for a probable clinch late in the seventh round, Carbajal caught him with a short, smashing left hook that dumped Kim on his face.

With a capacity crowd of 4,200 roaring in the Caesars Palace Pavilion, Kim was up quickly but could barely walk. Referee Richard Steele stopped it, and when Kim showed signs of still wanting to fight, Steele picked him up and carried him back to his corner.

All three judges had Carbajal ahead, 59-55 on two cards and 58-56 on the other. The Times card had Carbajal winning every round, 60-54.

Ahead for Carbajal, a double world champion from Phoenix, lies a unification fight with another South Korean, Yuh Myung-Woo, who holds the World Boxing Assn.’s light-flyweight championship. Carbajal has the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation titles.

Likely Carbajal-Yuh date: October or November. Likely site: Phoenix.

In an accompanying match Saturday, Freddie Pendleton defended his IBF lightweight championship for the first time with a unanimous decision over Jorge Paez.

Paez (46-6-4) fought bravely and hard in every round, but Pendleton (35-17-4) was never in difficulty and won most of the rounds by beating up Paez in the final seconds. Pendleton knocked Paez down in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but Paez was up immediately.

Referee Joe Cortez ruled what looked like a slip in the first round a knockdown. The judges had Pendleton winning by scores of 116-111 on two cards and 116-110 on one.

Pendleton’s people said their man broke a bone in his right hand early in the fight.

In a 10-round bout, Rafael Ruelas, the Sylmar lightweight ranked No. 1 by two governing bodies, won a unanimous but widely booed decision over Darryl Tyson of Washington.

And in another 10-rounder, flyweight Melchor Cob-Castro of Campeche, Mexico, won a unanimous decision over Kim Bon-Jun of Seoul. Castro is 38-4-4 and Kim fell to 23-9-3.

On the undercard, promising heavyweight Larry Donald of Cincinnati raised his post-Olympic mark to 7-0 as a pro by knocking out blubbery Al Shoffner (10-9) of Philadelphia in the fifth round.

And Donald’s 1992 U.S. Olympic team teammate, Vernon Forrest, went to 4-0 as a pro junior-welterweight, stopping Theodore Carradine (9-1) in the third.

Ruelas took the Tyson fight on short notice and it showed. He was a fill-in for Oscar De La Hoya, who injured a hand 10 days ago. Ruelas was hurt twice in the fifth round, but for the most part won the fight with his very effective jab.

Ring rust showed in the late rounds, when Ruelas was slow to get out of corners and off the ropes and often seemed unsteady on his feet. Two judges had Ruelas ahead, 100-90, and another had it 98-92. Many in the crowd and everyone in Tyson’s corner saw it closer.