Before a raucous crowd of 859 (capacity is 1200) at the Agua Caliente, welterweight contender “King” David Estrada, 24-6 (15), beat up and beat down previously unbeaten Orlando Lora, 26-1-1 (18), over eight rounds before the referee, on the advice of the ringside physician, stopped the bout before the ninth frame.
The fight was Estrada’s best yet. Previously beaten by Kermit Cintron, Shane Mosley, and controversially to Luis Abregu along with two others, Estrada came into tonight needing this win and he delivered.
“From the first round I knew I had him,” said Estrada.
From the very start, Estrada looked quicker, faster, and the better technician. He landed a straight right hand that set the tone early. Head shots, body shots, turn and flurries, Estrada looked inspired to beat the hometown favorite Lora.
Lora looked like he was walking in cement. He tried his one-twos but Estrada’s defense was too tight for him. Plus, every time Lora tried to rally, Estrada met him and then exceeded him in terms of output. The long range right hand by Estrada just couldn’t miss.
Looping or straight, Estrada landed the right, seemingly at will. While he isn’t the biggest power puncher, the shots landed flush enough that, by the middle rounds, Lora’s face was a red mess waiting to explode. A cut opened over his right eye in the fourth and was ruled an accidental headbutt, but from press row, it appeared more from accumulation of punches.
“I just imposed my will. It was just important to just pressure,” said Estrada afterward. And that seemed to work perfectly. By the middle rounds, it was looking like a very one-sided beating, the kind where a corner should save their prospect for another day.
Estrada took a bit of breather in the fifth and Lora got going a bit, landing a couple right hands and a nice left hook. But Estrada steeled himself and got going again by round’s end and carried it over down the stretch.
In the eighth, Estrada set the tempo again by landing multiple hard jabs that tamed Lora and set him up again for the right hand and an uppercut. “King David” landed a left hook followed by a right, then a left and another right and it looked like Lora was getting ready to go; blood flowed from his nose and the cut over his right eye. His punches had lost their snap and try as he might, he just couldn’t crack Estrada’s guard.
The round felt like mop-up duty as Estrada poured it on and Lora looked like a guy alone on an island. Just taking it and not giving it back with much conviction. Estrada landed at will with that right hand and clearly was looking for the knockout.
When the round ended, the ringside physician told the ref that Lora had enough, the fight was stopped and Lora was taken to nearby Eisenhower Hospital for observation.
“I was surprised he could take a punch. My corner told me to stay patient. I knew had to stop him or drop him a few times because in the Abregu fight, I felt I won the fight and I was fighting the house fighter,” said Estrada afterward. “This victory means a lot to me. I want a rematch with Berto, Mosley, or Abregu.”
With the win, Estrada picked up a regional title belt sanctioned by the WBC.
Undercard Highlights
Junior middleweight Angel Osuna, 4-2-1 (2), blitzed Ruben Rivera, 4-1-1 (3), to score a brutal and impressive first-round stoppage. The time was 1:33 of the first round. Osuna came out swinging and couldn’t miss the stationary Rivera. Osuna beat Rivera around the ring until he finally got him on the ropes and unloaded every punch he had and some he invented on the spot before the ref jumped in at stopped it.
Lightweight Gabriel Tolmajyan, 8-1 (3), scored a first-round KO of his own when he landed a right hand to drop Jose Morales, 6-2 (1), at 2:55 of the round.
Leonilo Miranda, 31-2 (29), stopped Andre Wilson, 11-4-1 (9), at :43 of the sixth round off a nice left hand shot that snapped Wilson’s head back and nearly off. Wilson rose deep in the count, took a step and then went back to a knee. The ref mercifully called “uncle” on Wilson’s behalf.
Luis “KO King” Rosas, 1-0 (1), made his pro debut against Edgar Flores, 0-2, and looked tight at times, but impressive. He scored a knockdown off a crisp right hand and then another that ended the fight off the same punch.
Welterweight Alex Paracha, 5-0 (2), took a unanimous decision over Marlo Cortez, 2-8-3 (1) with one no-contest, but from ringside it sure didn’t look that way.
