Carbajal Keeps Title; De La Hoya Breezes : Boxing: Light-flyweight champion scores technical knockout during the eighth round. East Los Angeles lightweight needs less than one round.

By RICH TOSCHES

Dec. 13, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

PHOENIX — As the last-minute arrivals for Saturday night’s fight between Michael Carbajal and Robinson Cuesta scurried across the downtown streets, they were pounded by blasts of desert wind and stinging, gale-driven raindrops.

The pounding Cuesta took was much worse.

Carbajal, the International Boxing Federation light-flyweight champion, retained his title with an eighth-round technical knockout. The fight was ended by referee Al Munoz with 55 seconds left in that round, the challenger from Panama back on his feet after a knockdown, but his arms hung limply at his sides.

Cuesta was the IBF’s No. 1 contender and had a 23-0 record.

“Near the end, I feared that one more punch might be lethal,” said Cuesta’s manager, Sergio Gonzalez. “He took such a terrible beating. The fight scared me.”

In an earlier bout that ended much too quickly to scare anybody, lightweight Oscar De La Hoya of East Los Angeles knocked out Clifford Hicks at 1:15 of the first round. It was the second consecutive first-round knockout for De La Hoya (2-0), the 1992 Olympic gold medalist.

De La Hoya sent Hicks reeling with nearly every punch he threw. A left hook less than a minute into the bout dropped Hicks (13-7) onto his back.

He was up at the count of seven, but De La Hoya trapped him against the ropes, snapped a straight right against his jaw and Hicks toppled head-first onto the canvas. He struggled to one knee but stayed in that position, dazed, as the referee counted him out.

“I felt so strong in the ring,” De La Hoya said. “I don’t want to take any time feeling my opponent out, giving them a chance to throw punches. Tonight I landed hard shots right away, and he fell. That’s all.”

Hicks said he knew within 10 seconds that he was in trouble.

“That kid is world-class,” Hicks said. “I’m a club fighter. He’s the quickest fighter I’ve ever seen, and his punches have so much sting to them.”

In the main event, Cuesta was knocked down during the third round after a withering body attack by Carbajal brought his hands down and a perfect left hook then caught him flush on the jaw.

“After that knockdown, I had nothing left,” Cuesta said. “I really don’t know how I lasted so long after that.”

Said Carbajal, who was making the sixth defense of the title he won in 1990 in only his 15th pro fight: “I was surprised he got up after the third round. . . . he was hurt real bad. It seemed like he fought on instinct after that.”

The victory sets up a unification bout between Carbajal (27-0 with 15 knockouts) and World Boxing Council champion Humberto Gonzalez in March, a bout that could bring Carbajal a purse of nearly $1 million--an unprecedented amount of money for the 108-pound division.

In a heavyweight bout scheduled for 10 rounds, Tommy Morrison (34-1) knocked out Marshall Tillman (11-9-1).