Junior middleweight prospect Richard Brewart, Jr. overcame a knockdown to defeat Nathan Weston Sunday evening at the Omega Products International in the Los Angeles suburb of Corona.
One judge scored the bout 57-56 for Weston, while the other two judges scored the bout 58-55 for Brewart, who improves to 9-0, 4 knockouts.
It was a quick turnaround for Brewart. The 22-year-old, who resides in nearby Rancho Cucamonga, fought then-unbeaten Louis Hernandez. Brewart overcame a knockdown in the opening round to stop Hernandez during the following round.
It was deja vu for Brewart as he found himself on the canvas courtesy of a left hook to the head from Weston. Brewart was not visibly hurt and continued to fight on.
From the second round on, Brewart was the aggressor, walking Weston down and forcing him to stand in the pocket and trade, where Brewart did his best work. Weston utilized lateral movement to avoid Brewart’s punches, then attempted to counter with left hooks and straight right hands to Brewart’s head.
Weston stood more in the pocket during the final two rounds, but it was Brewart, who is trained by Henry Ramirez, who was the more-effective fighter during this point of the fight.
“This was another great learning experience for me against another undefeated fighter,” said Brewart, Jr., who is promoted by Thompson Boxing Promotions. “I thought I rebounded after being dropped in the first round. I was never hurt, and I was relentless for the rest of the fight. I had to dig deep to get the victory and all the hard work in training camp paid off. I’m looking forward to my next fight.”
The 28-year-old Weston, who resides in the Atlanta, Georgia suburb of Fayetteville, drops to 6-1-2, 3 KOs.
Another bout between unbeaten featherweights also took place on the three-bout ‘3.2.1 Boxing’ card.
Katsuma Akitsugi defeated Arnold Dinong by split-decision over six rounds. One judge scored the bout 58-56 for Dinong, while the other two judges scored the bout 58-56 and 59-55 for Akitsugi.
The southpaw Akitsugi (5-1, KO), who is originally Wakayama, Japan and now resides in Hollywood, California, effectively utilized lateral movement to counter Dinong from the outside. Dinong had his moments, but Akitsugi connected on the more-effective punches during the second half of the fight.
Dinong, who resides in Daly City, California, drops to 7-1, 1 KO.
In the opening bout of the card, which was streamed on Thompson Boxing’s Facebook and YouTube page, Nelson Oliva was successful in his pro debut, knocking out Arizona’s Uriel Gonzalez (5-7-1, 5 KOs) in round 2.
The southpaw Oliva, who weighed 155.5 pounds at Saturday’s weigh-in, dropped Oliva twice during the opening round. Oliva continued his onslaught during the following round. A barrage of vicious combinations battered Gonzalez, prompting referee Daniel Sandoval to step in and stop the fight at 1:27.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.