Saturday, October 05, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Lightweight Ernesto "Baby" Zepeda did his part to make it a short night on a professional boxing card at the Plaza on Friday night.

In the main event, Zepeda stopped Miguel Casillas of Culiacan, Mexico, at 2:42 of the second round in a scheduled 10-rounder on Top Rank's card for the Telefutura Spanish-language cable network.

There were also two first-round knockouts, an early third-round stoppage and a fifth-round TKO on the six-bout card. The only bout to go the distance was a six-rounder following the main event. The card began at 5:15 p.m. and was over before 8.

Zepeda, 136 pounds, made the most of his bid to get back in the world ratings by quickly dispatching Casillas, who came into the fight 24-3-1.

Zepeda, of Tijuana, Mexico, dropped Casillas, 135 1/2, with a short left against the ropes. Casillas was on his feet at the count of seven and referee Kenny Bayless let him continue.

But Zepeda moved in for the finish and after two right hands and another short left, Bayless stopped the bout.

"I gave him a chance to see how well he recovered from (the knockdown) and he didn't," Bayless said. "He said he was OK, (but) he wasn't all of the way back."

Zepeda, 25, improved to 31-6-3. He had been ranked the No. 3 lightweight contender by the International Boxing Federation and No. 14 by the World Boxing Council before being stopped on cuts in the seventh round by veteran Las Vegan James Crayton on May 3 at The Orleans.

"I think (Zepeda) looked exceptional," Top Rank executive Todd duBoef said. "He has always been a terrific puncher and he caught Casillas with a great punch."

Zepeda had pressed Casillas, who moved around the ring with his arms down similar to Prince Naseem Hamed until he was caught by Zepeda.

Casillas had defeated Zepeda by a decision about eight years ago in the amateurs.

"I was sure I was going to beat him this time," Zepeda said.

See Scoreboard, Page 8C, for complete results