Barrera Wastes No Time, Stops Fana

The World Boxing Council, through its ranking system, determined that Mzonke Fana belonged in the position of No. 1 contender for its super-featherweight title

Champion Marco Antonio Barrera, in less than five minutes Saturday night, showed that Fana didn’t belong in the same ring with him.

After rocking the fighter from Cape Town, South Africa, with several head-rattling blows in the first round, Barrera quickly finished the job in the second with a couple of crushing right hands in the main event at the Don Haskins Center in front of 10,104.

The first right hand straightened Fana and seemed to freeze him.

The second sent him crashing to the canvas.

Referee Laurence Cole took one look at the dazed expression on Fana’s face and stopped the fight at the 1:48 mark.

“I knew when I staggered him that I had him, and that’s when I threw the last right,” said Barrera, who earned his 60th victory against four defeats. It was also his 42nd knockout.

“The ref didn’t count,” said Fana, who offered little resistance during the bout. “I deserved a 10 and out.

“I had high respect for Marco Antonio Barrera before I entered the ring, and I still have high respect for him. I shared the ring with a future Hall of Famer. And one day, I will be able to sit with my kids and tell them the story.”

This was only Fana’s second fight outside his native country, the first also ending in defeat. The 31-year-old fighter had compiled his record, now 22-3 with eight knockouts, against no-name opponents.

He said, after Saturday’s fight, that there will be other opponents for him .

“This is not the end of me,” Fana said

Although Barrera’s victory was swift and sure, he said afterward that he had been limited after the first round

“I hurt my right hand in the first,” he said, “but the energy of the crowd got me through.”

Fana can only shudder at the thought of what might have happened if Barrera had been at full strength.

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In the card’s other title fight, Fernando Montiel (30-1-1, 24) won the World Boxing Organization’s super-flyweight title from Ivan Hernandez (20-1-1, 13) with a seventh-round technical knockout.

Montiel put Hernandez down once in the sixth round and twice in the seventh. Referee Rafael Ramos then stepped in and halted the bout at the 1:48 mark.

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In a preliminary match, Vicente Escobedo, who fought for the U.S. Olympic team in the 2004 Athens Games, continued to show that he has adapted to the professional game.

Escobedo, who had won his pro debut on a second-round knockout, stopped Jose Rodriguez (3-3-1) at 1:22 of the first round of a scheduled six-round junior-lightweight bout. Referee Rocky Burke didn’t even bother to count after Escobedo floored Rodriguez with a right hand.

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Oscar De La Hoya, inactive since losing to Bernard Hopkins in September, said he would return to the ring Sept. 17. No opponent has been chosen, but De La Hoya’s first choice would be Felix Trinidad.... A tentative agreement has been reached for Hopkins to defend his undisputed middleweight title against Jermain Taylor on July 16. Negotiations are continuing with the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to play host to the match.