Fight:1041089

FIGHT NEWS
Roman and Ref stop Payne
Tonight at the Poliforo in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on a card headlined as "Choque de Raza!" ("Clash of the Races"), promoted by Promociones del Pueblo: In a ten-round non-title fight, WBC World Youth Super Bantam champ Miguel "Mickey Mouse" Roman (14,0, 10 KOs) scored a ninth round TKO, with the help of the referee, over tougher-than-expected Phillip "Bring the" Payne (16-17-1, 8 KOs). Roman built up an early lead but the 7th and 8th, Payne was scoring heavily with body shots despite the ref's constant warnings for "low blows." In the ninth round, Roman flurried Payne,which prompted the referee to call it quits 1:25 , to everyone's surprise. At the time of the stoppage, all three judges had it 79-71. Fightnews had 77-75. In the co-main, the best fight of the night, and a rematch from an earlier draw, former Mexican champ Arturo "Licenciado" Rivera (21-7-3, 16 KOs) and Miguel "Comelonches" Zamarripa (1-0-3) fought a thrilling eight-round draw. Other results: Javier "Terry" Castro (6-1, 5 KOs) lost his first professional fight when he was DQ'd at 2:43 of the first round after flooring Jorge Reyna (4-2, 1 KO), then hitting him when down; former lightweight contender-turned-soft-and-mushy Saul "Baby" Duran (36-13-2, 30) handed Martin "Azteca" Avila (4-1, 1 KO) his first loss with an eight-round unanimous decision; former NABF featherweight-champ-turned-lightweight Juan Carlos "Ranchero" Ramirez (37-8, 16 KOs) won a fourth round TKO over Armando "Bellavista" Bosquez (14-16-2, 12 KOs); Oscar Olivas (8-2, 2 KOs) beat up a shopworn, defenseless Jorge Reyes for a 2nd round TKO; Arturo Lopez (2-3, 1 KO) outhustled the much-smaller Jose Juan Mendez (11-12-3, 4 KOs) over six rounds for the unanimous; and Alejandro Moreno (21-17-3, 10 KOs) won a majority decision over Rigoberto Casillas (6-1) in a sixer. Stay tuned for a full report and photo gallery tomorrow. -- Chris Cozzone and Ricardo Trujillo
Saturday, December 17 2005