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Ornelas stops Fogle in fourth round

Fighters Network
22
Apr

Enrique Ornelas started slowly but finished with a flourish against Julius Fogle on Saturday in Los Angeles. Ornelas scored a fourth-round KO with a perfect left hook. Photo / M.L. Preissel

Enrique Ornelas struggled through three-plus rounds against 38-year-old journeyman Julius Fogle, who was the faster and more skillful of the two. Onlookers started to wonder whether an upset was in the offing in the main event of the Fight Night Club card Thursday in Los Angeles.

Then Ornelas put an end to such thinking with a single punch, a wild left hook to the head that put Fogle down and out at 1:12 of the fourth round of a scheduled eight-round super middleweight fight.

Ornelas (30-6, 20 knockouts) was coming off a one-sided loss to Bernard Hopkins in a light heavyweight bout in December.



“Actually, I am a really slow starter,” Ornelas said in the ring after the fight. “So I know I have to take my time. That’s my style. Every time I spar I try to go fast in the first round but it just doesn’t work for me. I have to see where I’m going.”

It wasn’t clear where Ornelas, from nearby La Habra, Calif., was going until the final moment.

Fogle (15-4, 10 KOs) is a one-time national amateur champion who won his first 15 fights but was 0-3 since and now 38 years old. Still, he was able to outbox his more-accomplished opponent for much of the first three rounds.

Ornelas looked sluggish, even flat as he fought with unusual caution, although he seemed to pick up his pace as the fight progressed. The end came out of nowhere, though — a crushing hook to the side of Fogle’s head that sent him to the canvas, where he stayed.

Just like that Ornelas turned what appeared to be a suspect performance into a dramatic knockout, one that will help him remain in title contention.

On the undercard, Deon Elam (11-1, 5 KOs) of Van Nuys, Calif., returned from a 14-month layoff to easily outpoint Andre Hemphill (8-15-2, 5 KOs) of Philadelphia in a four-round cruiserweight bout. Khabir Suleymanov (10-0, 4 KOs) of Los Angeles outclassed Bengi Garcia (14-14-3, 1 KO) of San Diego to win a unanimous decision in a six-round junior featherweight fight.

Luis Martinez (2-3-1) of Los Angeles defeated Juan Sandoval (1-2, 1 KO) of San Bernardino, Calif., by a majority decision in a four-round junior lightweight bout. And Hiromitsu Miura (2-0) of Las Vegas outpointed Nathan Bedwell (0-2) of Nashville, Tenn., in a four-round light heavyweight bout.

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