Hernandez Wins One of Two Battles : Boxing: Junior lightweight defeats Jorge Paez at The Pond, but his performance doesn’t help him in a publicity war with Oscar De La Hoya.

Junior lightweight Genaro Hernandez stopped Jorge Paez on cuts after eight rounds of a non-title bout, but he lost a little clout in his ongoing public relations war with Oscar De La Hoya with an unimpressive performance Friday night at The Pond before 12,479 fans.

In the main event, Humberto (Chiquita) Gonzalez pounded Jesus Zuniga for four rounds, then finished him off with a wicked left-right combination in the fifth. Zuniga stumbled to his feet, but he fell back to the canvas and was counted out.

Gonzalez, the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Council champion, was too strong and too quick for Zuniga, and he may be too good for anybody else in the light flyweight division.

“I was very happy with my performance,” Gonzalez said. “I wanted to win by knockout and make the fans happy. As for my future, I believe that I’ve run out of rivals in this division.”

Hernandez (32-0-1) was ahead on two scorecards and even on a third when referee Larry Rozadilla stopped the bout because of deep cuts over Paez’s left and right eyes. It appeared Hernandez caused both cuts with accidental head butts.

Before the fight, Hernandez said, “Paez has a lot to gain, and I have a lot to lose.”

De La Hoya knocked out Paez in two rounds last July, but Hernandez had a much tougher time figuring out the smaller Paez’s unorthodox style. He appeared to lose three of first four rounds as Paez continually beat Hernandez to the punch.

“I was clowning around a lot more, but I used my head,” said Paez, whose record dropped to 50-8-4. “I fought it wide open and began to use my head later in the fight.”

Paez, who entered the ring in a gas mask and had TYSON shaved in the back of his head, slowed down in the later rounds and Hernandez began landing the more effective blows.

“I expected a hard fight,” said Hernandez, who has insinuated that Paez took a dive against De La Hoya. “I knew he’d come out joking around and trying to get me off my fight plan. I expected to go 10 rounds with him--not knocked him out. I’m obviously very pleased with the outcome.”

In the evening’s first title fight, Marco Antonio Barrera of Mexico City took the World Boxing Organization junior featherweight title from Daniel Jimenez of Camuy, Puerto Rico, with a dominating performance. Barrera (35-0) jumped on Jimenez early and never let up as he won a 12-round unanimous decision.

Though referee Raul Caiz took a point away in the sixth round for a head butt, Barrera remained the stronger and quicker fighter throughout. He was able to get inside on Jimenez and dictate most of the exchanges.

After slowing down in the late rounds, Barrera had the crowd on its feet for the last minute as tried to put away Jimenez (19-4-1), who was unbeaten in his last 18 fights and won his last fight in 17 seconds.

Afterward, Barrera, 21, talked of fighting again at The Pond, then of retiring.

“The fans responded well,” Barrera said. “They were great. I’m very happy. I feel so good right now, it’s amazing. The way I feel now, I’m considering hanging up my belt, retiring, and going back to the university in Mexico City, where I’m studying to be a lawyer.”

Alejandro Gonzalez of Guadalajara withstood a gutty performance from Louie Espinoza of Phoenix and retained his WBC featherweight title in a 12-round unanimous decision. Gonzalez, who won his title in January by upsetting Kevin Kelly, fell behind early as Espinoza (49-9-2) stunned him with several hard counter-rights.

But Gonzalez began to take control in the middle rounds and by the 11th, Espinoza was getting hit consistently by digging left hooks.

In the first bout, lightweight Juan Carlos Rodriguez (29-4-1) of Guadalajara recovered from a first-down knockdown to win a unanimous 10-round decision over Daniel Hernandez (11-12) of La Puente.