Ocegueda Takes 5-Round Victory Over Ludwig

Welterweight Jaime Ocegueda of El Monte recovered from a second-round flash knockdown to win a unanimous five-round decision Friday night over Marco Antonio Ludwig of Acapulco, Mexico, in front of 1,096 at the Irvine Marriott.

The bout was stopped early because of a cut over Ludwig’s right eye, which was caused by an accidental head butt.

Ocegueda (16-1-3) was off balance when he took a short left hook from Ludwig near the end of the second round. He went down but quickly got back up and ran straight into Ludwig’s head. Ludwig (26-11-1) got the worst of it and wound up with a nasty cut.

“It wasn’t a knockdown,” Ocegueda said. “It was a slip. I kind of got upset at first, then I said, ‘Oh well. Forget about it.’ ”

Ocegueda spent the next three rounds throwing combinations that kept the blood flowing over Ludwig’s right eye. After the fifth round, ringside physician Michael DeLuca stopped the bout. In California, if a fight is stopped after four rounds because of an accidental head butt, the bout goes to the scorecard, where Ocegueda was well ahead on all three cards.

“I knew it would be stopped on cuts so I tried to outbox him and be ahead on points,” Ocegueda said. “He was an awkward fighter. He threw a lot of round-housing punches, but he didn’t hurt me.”

In the semi-main event, Danny Perez (6-1) of San Diego came off an eight-month layoff from hepatitis to knock out Alvaro Velasquez (5-5) of Anaheim in the third round. In the most competitive fight of the night, Nick Martinez (4-0, four knockouts) of Bassett shook off a second-round knockdown to win a unanimous five-round decision over Lloyd Weaver (8-4) of Diamond Bar.

Weaver stunned Martinez with a counter right uppercut early in the second, but Martinez used a body attack to wear down Weaver and win an easy decision.

“I’ve been knocked out before,” Martinez said. “It seems like every time I get knocked down, it’s a pick up. That’s where the heart comes out.”