Sluggish Hernandez Stops Paez : Boxing: Gonzalez knocks out Zuniga in fifth round of main event at The Pond.

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

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, then 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 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.”

The unimpressive Hernandez (32-0-1) was ahead on two scorecards, and even a third, when referee Larry Rozadilla stopped the bout because of deep cuts over both of Paez’s eyes. It appeared the cuts were caused by 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 the 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 onto 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 implied that Paez took a dive against De La Hoya. “He was one tough SOB. 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 knock 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, who raised his record to 35-0, jumped on Jimenez early and never let up as he won a 12-round unanimous decision.

Although he had a point taken away by referee Raul Caiz in the sixth round for a head butt, Barrera was the stronger and quicker fighter throughout.

After slowing down in the late rounds, Barrera had the crowd on its feet for the last minute as he tried to finish Jimenez (19-4-1), who was unbeaten in his last 18 fights.

Alejandro Gonzalez of Guadalajara withstood a gutty performance by Louie Espinoza of Phoenix and retained his WBC featherweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision. In the first bout, lightweight Juan Carlos Rodriguez (29-4-1) of Guadalajara recovered from a first-down knockdown for a unanimous 10-round decision over Daniel Hernandez (11-12) of La Puente.