Relentless Challenger Surprises Ledwaba

Lehlohonolo Ledwaba was frustrated early and often by the array of left-handed punches southpaw Manny Pacquiao threw at him Saturday night. He was downright shocked when the barrage of lefts ended his title reign.

A left hook to the head dropped Ledwaba in the second round. A left cross to the chin dropped him in the sixth. And a lead left to the jaw a few seconds later ended the fight as the relentless Pacquiao took Ledwaba’s International Boxing Federation super-bantamweight belt with a stunning technical knockout 59 seconds into the sixth round.

The upset highlighted the undercard of the Oscar De La Hoya-Javier Castillejo super-welterweight championship bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, which also featured a trio of U.S. Olympians from last year’s Sydney Games remaining unbeaten in their nascent professional careers.

The Ledwaba upset, though, was the most shocking result of the night.

Before referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight, Pacquiao (33-2, 24 knockouts) led, 50-44, on all three judges’ scorecards. The Times also had the score 50-44 in favor of the Filipino.

In his sixth title defense, South African Ledwaba (33-2-1) was bleeding profusely from both nostrils from the second round on.

“I never expected it to be this tough,” Ledwaba said. “I was waiting to see who my new opponent would be, so I knew nothing about him. He was a last-minute substitute.

“I was surprised by the knockdown in the second round. It was a total shock. He came on really hard. He just caught me in the last round.”

Pacquiao called his victory a dream come true.

“He did not hurt me at all,” said Pacquiao, a former World Boxing Council champion. “He did not even hit me hard. I was in control the entire fight. I was the aggressor and I knew I was going to knock him out.”

Earlier, U.S. Olympian Michael Bennett (4-0) needed only 41 seconds to get a technical knockout of Donald Macon (6-4-1) in a heavyweight bout. All four of Bennett’s pro victories have come in the first round.

“Some people say I should go farther in my fights,” he said. “But I do all my training in the gym. I do all my battles in the gym. I’d rather have all my fights like this.”

Jose Navarro, a Los Angeles native who made his pro debut in January, improved to 5-0 after pounding Salvador Rosales (2-1) of Long Beach, winning all four rounds to earn a unanimous decision in a bantamweight bout.

Middleweight Jermain Taylor, who won a bronze medal in Sydney, also won a four-round unanimous decision to improve to 4-0, winning every round against Marvin Smith (8-4-1).

Also on the card, Agapito Sanchez, the No. 4-ranked contender, won the vacant World Boxing Organization’s junior featherweight title with a technical knockout of No. 1 contender Jorge Pabon Monsalvo.

Sanchez (38-7-1, 20 KOs), of the Dominican Republic, caught Monsalvo with a sweeping overhand right in the middle of the ring that staggered Monsalvo before his knees buckled and he went down face first. Referee Kenny Bayless stopped the bout at 1:28 of the seventh round when Monsalvo (29-2) didn’t respond to his satisfaction.

“I wasn’t surprised that the referee stopped the fight,” Sanchez said. “I knew that I was hurting him round after round and that he was weakening.”

Monsalvo disagreed with the referee’s decision.

“He obviously did hurt me a little bit with that punch, but that is normal,” Monsalvo said. “It’s part of the sport.”

Also on the undercard: Jose Luis Valbuena (20-2-1) won a unanimous decision over Julian Rodriguez (22-4) in an eight-round super-bantamweight bout; and Guillermo Javier Saputo, of Los Angeles, won his pro debut with a second-round technical knockout of Sean Holley (4-8-1) of Inglewood in a welterweight fight.