Pena Wins Makeshift Main Event

IRVINE â€”  Filling Friday night’s monthly boxing card at the Irvine Marriott was a battle in itself for promoter Roy Englebrecht and matchmaker Jerry Bilderrain.

Englebrecht and Bilderrain spent much of their Thanksgiving holiday trying to fill the card, which was left in disarray. Several fighters had pulled out, including Ivan Salazar, who withdrew from the main event after failing to catch a plane from Mexico City in time to get medical clearance.

“[Thursday] we had only three fights left on the card,� Englebrecht said.

But Englebrecht and Bilderrain pulled through with some entertaining match-ups for the 1,098 fans that filled the ballroom.

In the main event, which was shortened to six rounds, six-time U.S. amateur champion Pedro Pena gave away nine pounds to Mexico’s Javier Duran but still improved his unbeaten streak to nine with a unanimous decision in the super flyweight division.

TPena and Duran exchanged two heavy flurries in the last round, the second coming in the final 10 seconds.

In a four-round women’s bout, Mia St. John of Woodland Hills improved to 5-0 after a unanimous decision over Dolores Lira of Boise, Idaho. It was St. Jonn’s first victory by decision.

“It took a few rounds to warm up,� St. John said. “Unfortunately with only two-minute rounds, you don’t have a lot of time to get warmed up.�

In a five-round super-middleweight bout, El Monte’s Jaime De La Torre (3-0, two knockouts) scored a knockdown against Kenny Coates (1-2, one knockout) to start the third and the fight was stopped 50 seconds into the round.