Fuentes Stays Unbeaten by Beating Castillo

It was difficult to tell who was the biggest winner Friday night, Ricardo Fuentes of Mexico but who now fights out of Azusa or longtime boxing promoter Roy Englebrecht.

Fuentes ran his record to 13-0 with a unanimous decision over countryman Felipe Castillo in a spirited featherweight bout at the Irvine Marriott.

But the 1,034 spectators on hand for the opening of Englebrecht’s 13th year of boxing in Orange County might have packed the biggest wallop of all. Englebrecht, forced to move his 12-card show to Fridays so the hotel could accommodate more convention business in its main ballroom, admitted he was worried about the gate.

It wasn’t the largest crowd Englebrecht has sold, but the audience appeared to like what it saw. Fans showered the ring with money at the conclusion of the highly entertaining Fuentes-Castillo performance.

Fuentes was in total control except for parts of the second round. The boxers opened the third with a flurry and Castillo began to bleed from his nose. In the ninth, Fuentes, a left-hander, caused Castillo’s nose to bleed profusely with a stinging left hand. It was the first time Fuentes has gone more than eight rounds.

“I never thought I lost control of the fight,” Fuentes said. “I train hard so when I get in the ring I know what to do. But it was a hard fight. He is a good fighter.”

In other bouts, former Golden Gloves champion Carlos Navarro opened a cut over the right eye of Lucio Angeles in the fourth round of their scheduled eight-round junior featherweight bout and referee Dave Nelson stopped it, handing Navarro his fifth victory without a loss.

Featherweight Marcos Licona of Westminster improved to 10-0 with a sixth-round knockout of Mexico’s Javier Duran. It was the fifth knockout of his career.

Flyweight Pedro Pena of East Los Angeles had little trouble improving to 3-0 with a first-round knockout of Humberto Melindez of El Paso.

In a four-round super featherweight bout, Reno Olivo of Mexico won a unanimous decision over countryman Ernesto Martinez.