Snakebite Mauricio Herrera (23-5, 7 KOs) captured the NABF junior welterweight title by majority technical decision over a disgruntled Hank Lundy (25-5, 12 KOs) at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California Saturday night.
Referee Jack Reiss halted the contest near the end of round five--due to a bad cut around Herrera's right eye. An accidental head butt in the opening round had done the damage.
Since the fight had completed four rounds, the judges’ scorecards would determine a winner.
One judge had the fight even at 48-48, while the other two saw Herrera the winner by a 48-47 tally.
Herrera, 35, with most of the raucous crowd in his corner, outboxed Lundy in round one, but Lundy, 31, perhaps motivated by the sight of Herrera's blood, did very well in round two.
The fight changed in the next stanza when Herrera began to concentrate on Lundy's body.
Lundy, a southpaw, landed a hard left, but Herrera ignored the punch.
Herrera walked Lundy down in round four and landed good combinations. Lundy countered with wide hooks, but Herrera was consistently the busier fighter.
Lundy, who resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, tried to keep Herrera off him with his jab. Herrera landed a hard left seconds before Reiss stopped the fight. The end came at 2:59 of round five.
"He stung me in the first round and I kind of lost focus," said Herrera in the ring after the match. "I started finding my momentum as the rounds went on. But, the issue with the cut really made the fight lose its rhythm and momentum. I can’t see how deep the cut is but I feel physically fine and could have kept going. I am in good condition and was landing good body shots and was wearing him down."
Not surprisingly, Lundy had a different take on the bout.
“You saw it,” Lundy said. “He couldn’t handle my speed, my power or my skills so he was holding and doing a bunch of other dirty stuff. I know I won the fight. And, I was ready to take him out if it kept going."
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