Lopez continues his path of destruction

For three rounds, obscure Ohio pugilist Billy Lyell had serious thoughts of spoiling the David Lopez homecoming party.

Those thoughts quickly vanished with a right hook to the jaw.

Lopez (36-12, 23 KO) shook off some early struggles to score an impressive fifth-round knockout over Lyell (16-6, 3 KO) in the main event of Friday night’s Telefutura fight card at the Desert Diamond Casino.

The Nogales, Sonora middleweight has now collected a dozen consecutive victories.

Tabbed as a late fill-in for Colombia’s Samuel Miller two days before the bout’s opening bell, Lyell had compiled a decent, but unspectacular record against average competition.

Those at ringside and the 1,650 Lopez fans in attendance expected a quick “Destroyer” victory.

Lyell had other ideas.

It was clear from the opening minutes that Lyell had a plan to counter Lopez’s power — left-right combinations in the center of the ring. Lyell was able to sneak more than a few straight right hands past Lopez’s defense.

Early on, Lopez appeared sluggish, even admitting as much in the post-fight press conference.

“At first, I felt a little tired,” Lopez said through an interpreter. “But then I started landing my punches and I could tell they were starting to hurt him.”

Lopez began gaining steam in the fourth round, when a disciplined body attack stopped Lyell in his tracks. By the time round five rolled around, Lyell had nothing left.

Even though his punches were landing cleanly, Lyell’s shots had little effect on Lopez. But the energy Lyell expended to apply the early pressure had faded.

Lopez caught Lyell with a right uppercut early in the fifth. Smelling blood, Lopez stalked his opponent to the ropes.

At the 2:10 mark, Lyell’s upset bid ended quickly, violently and efficiently.

Lopez put all of his weight behind a looping left hook that found its way through Lyell’s defense and sent him crumbling to the canvas.

When the knockout occurred, one judge had Lyell leading 39-37, another had Lopez ahead 39-37, while the third scored it even.

Lopez weighed in for this fight at 157 pounds — his lightest weight in more than two years — but insisted that had nothing to do with his slow start.

After the bout, Lopez — who made $20,000 for this bout — showed respect for his gritty, hard-nosed opponent, but quickly set his sights on the future — which, of course — he hopes will lead to that elusive title bout.

He mentioned a possible bout with fellow Mexican countryman Marco Antonio Rubio in a WBC title eliminator as something he’d definitely be interested in.

“I’ve been kind of frustrated that it’s taking me this long to get a title shot, but I’m just going to keep training hard and beating whoever they put in front of me,” Lopez said. “It’s always a thrill to fight in front of my hometown fans, and I hope I get the chance to one day return with the middleweight title.”

Quick work for Gonzalez

Telefutura’s co-main event featured former bantamweight titlist Jhonny Gonzalez (39-6, 33 KO) blew out Leivi Brea (16-7-3, 8 KO) with a first-round knockout.

Gonzalez, considered by many boxing insiders as one of the finest fighters in the 118-122-pound weight classes, completely out-classed the journeyman from New Jersey.

Gonzalez came out firing and ended things with a left hook to the liver that crumpled Brea into a heap in the corner.

This was Gonzalez’s fifth dominant win in a row since a stunning knockout loss to Gerry Penalosa last August.

Since headlining HBO “Boxing After Dark” cards and appearing on many of the network’s high-profile pay-per-view events, Gonzalez has seen his exposure dwindle, despite being only 26 years old and in the prime of his career. Last night was the first eight-round bout he accepted in seven years. He made $9,000 for his efforts.

In the Telefutura televised attraction, Cuban gold medalist Yan Barthelemy suffered his first career loss against Ernie Marquez.

Barthelemy (6-1) was one of Golden Boy Promotions’ top prospects, but did little to impress the judges in what turned out to be an ugly clinch-fest with sporadic bits of action.

Marquez (7-4, 3 KO) did his best to turn it into a fight, but the slick Barthelemy dipped and dodged his way past most of the punches. Barthelemy cut Marquez with an accidental headbutt in the fourth round, but didn’t pursue his opponent with any sense of urgency.

Barthelemy was docked a point in the sixth and final round for holding. Two of the judges scored the bout 57-56, while the third had it 58-55, all in favor of the sloppy, yet aggressive Marquez.

Despite the loss, Barthelemy still cleared $19,000 for his work on Friday night.

“I did my job and put a lot of pressure on him,” Marquez said. “I knew he was the favorite, but I’m glad I was able to fight my fight.”

After winning gold in the 2004 Olympics, Barthelemy, along with teammates Yuriorkis Gamboa and Odlanier Solis, defected from Cuba in hopes of making it big in boxing.

All three prospects began their careers undefeated — until now.

On the undercard

Exciting lightweight prospect Hylon Williams (3-0, 1 KO) overwhelmed Ramior Torres in a four-round unanimous decision.

The 2007 Golden Gloves champ landed clean combinations almost at will. At only 18 years of age, Golden Boy expects big things out of Williams.

Undefeated junior lightweight Elezar Renteria (8-0, 5 KO) scored a unanimious decision over Rio Rico’s Baladan Treviso (5-13-7, 2 KO) in an all-action brawl.

In a six-round battle of undefeated welterweights, Mauricio Herrera (5-0, 2 KO) blew out Daniel Cervantes (10-1-1) with a relentless assault.

The final bout of the evening featured undefeated heavyweight prospect Ashanti Jordan (5-0, 5 KO) knocking out Ethan Cox (2-2, 1 KO) at the 2:58 mark of the third round.

The next Golden Boy boxing card at the Diamond Center is scheduled for Oct. 10.

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