Ballard Rules on Majority Decision : Boxing: South African light heavyweight makes bid for world title shot with 10-round verdict over Brown.

With everything else equal, perhaps motivation was the key.

Faced by an opponent capable of destroying his chance at a world title shot, Gary Ballard responded with a strong effort, winning a majority decision over Eric Brown in a 10-round bout between light heavyweights Wednesday night at the Warner Center Marriott.

Ballard, who took control of the fight in the seventh round, won by a margin of 97-91 on one judge’s card and 96-92 on another. A third judge scored the bout a draw.

And so lives a verbal agreement to match Ballard against undefeated Dariusz (Tiger) Michalczewski for the World Boxing Organization title in Germany next month.

Ballard, a South African fighting out of Huntington Beach, improved to 20-2-1. Brown, who, like his opponent, is 28 years old and in his fifth year as a professional, is 18-3-1.

The co-main event lived up to its billing as a match between powerful middleweight punchers.

Floyd Weaver, who rebounded last month from a first-round knockdown to knock out Don Goodwin at the Marriott, couldn’t do the same against Fili Castro.

Castro, from Sonora, Mexico, dropped Weaver twice in the first round and two more times in the second before referee Jose Cobian stopped the bout.

Castro improved to 13-2 with his 11th victory by knockout. Weaver fell to 13-4-2.

In the most-eagerly anticipated bout of the undercard, light heavyweight Robert Galstyan won a unanimous decision over Felizardo Diaz, much to the delight of a throng of about 400 Armenian fight fans who loudly cheered his every punch.

Galstyan, 35, whose previous claims to fame have been documented by the Guinness Book of Records, scored most often with powerful jabs, quickly taking the wind out of his younger and taller opponent.

“I would have done better, but I was nervous,” Galstyan said through his interpreter, who also translated instructions for trainer Stan Ward during the fight.

Those fans, who constituted about half of the crowd in the hotel’s Grand Ballroom, roared from the moment Galstyan entered the venue.

But apparently they weren’t loud enough for everybody to hear.

“All I was thinking about was the fight,” Galstyan said. “I couldn’t hear anything.”

Diaz, about three inches taller--but 12 pounds lighter--than his 5-foot-6 opponent, started the fight by circling Galstyan and using his reach advantage to score with jabs.

Just as soon as Galstyan started connecting, Diaz quit moving and seemed most intent on surviving.

Diaz’s record fell to 2-2-1.

Galstyan, a native of Masis, Armenia, moved to the United States 1 1/2 years ago. He resides in Van Nuys and trains under Ward’s direction in North Hollywood. In Guinness, he is recognized for pulling two connected railroad cars weighing more than 240 tons 23 feet down a track--with his teeth.

At times, Diaz tested his jaw, but Galstyan might find a better fight when he appears on the Marriott’s next card, Dec. 13.

Promoter Gerrie Coetzee, obviously recognizing a cash cow, has promised to bring him back.

Other winners on the undercard were Jaime Ocegueda, Carlos Marquez and Rodney Jones.

Ocegueda won for the third time at the Marriott, earning a unanimous decision over Manuel Margarito in a junior welterweight bout. Ocegueda, now 13-1-1, took every round on two of three judges’ cards against a game but outclassed opponent. Margarito is 3-2-2.

In another junior welterweight bout, Marquez upset previously undefeated Gregory Balacazar of Northridge, knocking him down twice and stopping him at 1:17 of the fourth round.

Balacazar had won his previous eight professional bouts. Marquez improved to 13-9-3.

Jones won when Ramon Baez failed to answer the bell for the third round of their middleweight bout scheduled for four rounds.