In one corner, Giovanni Caro was doubled up, clearly in agony, after being hit low. In another corner, Bernabe Concepcion was having a severe laceration under an eye examined by a ringside physician.
What a tableau! What a fight! What a finish!
It came in the eighth round of a scheduled 10-round main event the other evening at the Sycuan Resort and Casino. I am, I should note, preparing to go back to a journalistic corner for the final time as a boxing writer and this fight reinforced my thinking that boxing can be a noble thing. Action resuming, Concepcion, a 122-pounder from the Philippines, appeared to recognize that his cut was severe enough for the bout to be stopped should he take more punches. He sprang at his rival, reached him with a volley of shots and dumped him in the corner Concepcion had just left, where Caro was counted out.
Caro would say he had nothing left after being fouled. But the fighter from Mexico City, making his first appearance in this country, was the man who made this evening memorable. Caro came into the fight with a record of 11-4-4, with 9 KOs, hardly the sort of record one would expect for someone matched against Concepcion (27-1-1, 16 KOs), the star of Manny Pacquiao Promotions. Concepcion is ranked No. 3 by the WBO in his weight class and No. 5 by the WBC.
Sycuan matchmaker Sean Gibbons, however, said Concepcion’s interests had requested that he go against a fighter of ability. Gibbons chose Caro.
?His record is deceiving,? Gibbons said of Caro, whose previous five bouts had been against opponents with a composite reading of 80-12. Yet he was 3-1-1 in those appearances with the loss by a split decision.
Concepcion scored a flash knockdown in the second round with a straight right, but Caro was right there beginning the eighth round. One judge had him ahead 67-65. The other two judges favored Concepcion 67-65 and 70-62.
Timekeeper Mike Millsap said this was the best fight to have been waged in the San Diego area in a number of years. Agreed.
