Knockout Allows Medal to Keep Title

Roger Medal of Nicaragua retained his California featherweight title by scoring an eighth-round knockout of Carlos Martinez of Mexico in the main event Thursday night at the Irvine Marriott.

Medal fought off several low blows from Martinez, who was warned by referee Pat Russell in the third round, before finally pinning the challenger against the ropes in the eighth. Martinez was unable to defend himself and Russell stopped the fight at 2:18 of the round.

In an earlier bout, Javier Mora, a Westminster heavyweight, improved his professional record to 2-0 when his opponent, Eric Mason of Las Vegas, couldn’t answer the bell for the fourth.

Other winners included super-middleweight Enrique Ornalas, who beat Sean Wheeler of Pomona on a unanimous decision; 129-pounder Mike Anchondo of La Puente, who knocked out Roberto Colin in the second round; and junior-middleweight Benito Tzand of Amsterdam, who knocked out Lafayette Randolph 12 seconds into the first round.

FOOTBALL

With its football playoff aspirations nearly gone, Chapman (0-2) hosts Whittier College (0-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Because Chapman plays an independent schedule, Coach Ken Visser has said that more than one regular-season loss could be costly to the Panthers’ NCAA Division III playoff chances.

Whittier lost its opener to the University of San Diego.

Saturday’s game can be heard live on KBPK-FM (90.1).

WATER POLO

UC Irvine slipped two notches to No. 4 in the latest men’s water polo collegiate coaches’ poll after losing, 8-5, to top-ranked USC at last week’s Southern California Tournament. The Anteaters (5-1) get a rematch with the Trojans (6-0) at home, Saturday at noon.

WRESTLING

Brea Olinda named Rene Delgado as its wrestling coach, according to athletic director Ron Hampton. Delgado wrestled at Cal State Fullerton.

BASKETBALL

ESPN will televise six Big West Conference men’s basketball games live, including UC Irvine’s Feb. 3 game at Long Beach State, which will be carried by ESPN2. Other broadcasts scheduled are Long Beach at Utah State (Jan. 11), Long Beach at UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 18), Pacific at UCSB (Feb. 24) on ESPN2, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at Utah State (March 3) and the conference tournament championship game (March 20) from the Anaheim Convention Center.