Quezada holds onto title

LEMOORE -- Manuel Quezada says that he is ready for a step up. It certainly looked that way on Thursday night at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino, as the Wasco boxer put on a clinic against Louisiana heavyweight Andrew Greeley. "I felt good out there. I hit him hard and man did he have a hard head," said Quezada, who retained his WBC Caribbean Heavyweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Greeley (14-23-2).

"I'm ready to step up. It gets a little frustrating, because I've had some bigger named opponents drop out," Quezada added. "I'm not the type of guy to mention any names, but I'd be happy to get in there with some of the bigger name fighters."

Quezada (24-4) worked exclusively in the early rounds to the body. It was a trend that continued into the middle and late rounds, too.

"He's been in there with a lot of tough opponents and they couldn't take him out," Quezada said. "I knew I was going to have to go to the body and I did that. I think that made it a lot easier on me in the late rounds."

Quezada controlled the action throughout, having his way with Greeley. Quezada pushed him around the ring, into corners and then bombed away to the body. He only occasionally went upstairs with power shots.

In doing so, Quezada won in dominating fashion 100-90 on all three scored cards.

Watsonville's Carina Moreno (19-1) held on to her WBC/WIBA Minimumweight championships with a unanimous decision over Puerto Rico's Yahaira Martinez (7-3).

Moreno started to pepper Martinez with right hands in the fourth round and it looked like Martinez was beginning to fade.

Moreno continued to keep the pressure on, pressing Martinez into the ropes and boxing well inside. Martinez landed a solid left hand in the sixth, but Moreno showed no affects of the punch, as she continued to pressure on stalk Martinez.

Martinez was visibly frustrated by the ninth round. Moreno continued to press the action and landed virtually at will. The action didn't stop in the tenth and final round, as Moreno peppered Martinez with right hands.

Las Vegas' Dewey Cooper (17-1-3) continued to make his climb up the cruiserweight ladder, defeating Missouri's Galen Brown (30-9-1) by unanimous decision in a featured bout.

The first three rounds were uneventful, as Brown spent most of his time showboating and Cooper was utilizing his jab one at a time.

Brown didn't pick up his punch output until the tenth round and by that time it was too little too late. Cooper virtually swept the scored cards, recording a 99-91 sweep of all three cards.

In other fights;

l New York super bantamweight Dominga Oliva (7-4-1) won the vacant WBC International title by split decision over San Francisco's Ana Julaton (4-1-1).

Julaton was cut over the left in the second round, but she weathered an early Oliva storm.

The Freddy Roach-trained Julaton started to pick up the pace in the late rounds and by the seventh her straighter punches started to take an affect on the wild Oliva.

But Oliva came out firing in the eighth round and slowed Julaton down with a stiff right hook.

l Visalia bantamweight Aaron Alafa (2-0) made quick work of Greg McDowell (0-1), knocking the Cambria fighter out in just 19 seconds of the first round with a quick right hand.

l Bakersfield welterweight Mike Dallas Jr. (5-0) continued his dazzling win streak with a knockout of Ohio's James Helmes (6-2) at 1:45 in the first round.

With a quick and fierce early attack, Dallas Jr. connected with a heavy right hand that crumbled Helmes to the canvas where the fight was virtually immediately stopped.

l Madera super middleweight Joaquin Marquez (4-0-1) kept his unbeaten record alive with a majority decision over Fresno's Loren Meyers (6-4). The score totals were 38-38, 39-37 and 40-36.

The 4-rounder turned into a bloody bout in the second, as Marquez' nose was busted up and he bled badly. The fight also picked up speed and continued into the third and fourth where Marquez was clearly the aggressor.

l Colorado junior welterweight Carlos Nevarez (13-16-1) defeated New York's James Ventry (6-5-1) by majority decision in a 6-round bout.

It looked like Ventry had taken command of the fight in the third after a slow start, but was rocked during the last 10 seconds of the round, but managed to stay on his feet.

The pair fought furiously throughout and it was tightly contested, as Nevarez escaped with a 58-56, 58-56, 57-57 victory on the scorecards.

(Aug. 22, 2008)