Junior featherweight Jesus Arechiga remained unbeaten in his hometown of Mazatlan, Mexico Friday night, after Mario Diaz was disqualified for repeated low blows at the Gimnasio German Evers.
Arechiga improved to 20-0, 13 knockouts.
From the opening bell, Arechiga was the superior fighter, utilizing his speed and punch accuracy to outland Diaz. Arechiga dropped Diaz during the second round, and although he beat the count and fought back, Diaz looked frustrated and overwhelmed with each passing round.
The 23-year-old continued to outbox Diaz, who began to land low blows that prompted verbal warnings from referee Adrian Pineda.
Midway through round seven, Arechiga scored another knockdown of Diaz, who looked like he was in survival mode and whose punch output dropped significantly.
The end of the fight came towards the end of the eighth round. Arechiga continued to outbox Diaz, when he threw and landed two punches significantly below the beltline of Arechiga. Referee Adrian Pineda stopped the bout at 2:45, disqualifying Diaz.
The southpaw Arechiga last fought on February 25, defeating journeyman Jesus Gomez Quintana by unanimous decision. His most notable victory was a knockout over former fringe contender David Reyes Cota on June 24 of last year.
Arechiga is trained and advised by Hector Zapari, Jr. He is also from the same hometown as Gilberto Ramirez and Pedro Guevara, both of whom have won world title belts in their respective weight divisions.
Diaz, who resides in Aguascalientes, Mexico, falls to 21-6, 9 KOs. The 28-year-old has now lost four of his last seven bouts.
Also on the ‘Pasos de Campeon III’ card, another battle between fighters from Mazatlan and Aguascalientes also took place.
Lightweight Jose Amaro Garcia of Mazatlan won a six-round unanimous decision over Francisco Vital Macias (3-2, 3 KOs). The 19-year-old improved to 7-0-1, 4 KOs.
In another lightweight clash, Hector Astorga of Los Mochis, Mexico improved to 6-1-2, 4 KOs, defeating Durango’s Reymundo Castillo (3-3) by split decision.
Junior middleweight Juan Estrada Juarez, also of Mazatlan, defeated Tijuana’s Antonio Barajas (3-8) by unanimous decision over four rounds. Estrada improved to 6-0, 1 KO.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing