Spike’s PBC Debut: Berto Gets Sixth Round TKO in Controversial Referee Stoppage

Following Andre Berto’s second knockdown of Josesito Lopez, referee Raul Caiz Jr. had seen enough.

Ahead on two of the official scorecards at the time of the stoppage, Caiz Jr. called a halt to Premiere Boxing Champions’ debut Spike effort Friday night at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif.

To Lopez and those in attendance, Caiz Jr.’s actions seemed premature.

Doing marvelous work to the body through each of the bout’s six frames, it seemed that Lopez was prime to pull off an upset. It was not meant to be.

A sharp right hand was the beginning of the end, as Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) put it square on the chin of Lopez. Staggered but not dropped, “The Riverside Rocky” retreated and ate another sharp right before crashing to the canvas. Lopez (33-7, 19 KOs) stood at the eight count and then ate another sharp right immediately that dropped him to a knee. Instead of issuing a count on the kneeling fighter, Caiz waved off the action. The defeated fighter stood and protested immediately to no avail. The official time was 1:03 of the sixth.

“I know I was in his back yard. I knew I had to bring the heat to him,” said Berto. “But you know everybody knows Josesito is a tough competitor. As soon as I felt his punches a little bit I felt like he couldn’t hurt me, so I really just started walking through him, breaking him down a bit.”

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Arreola Decisions Harper in Barnburner

In a true heavyweight slugfest, Chris Arreola held on to decision Curtis Harper.

From the opening bell, it did not seem as if the fight would last long as Arreola uncorked a left hook that deposited his foe on the canvas in the bout’s first minute. On wobbly legs, Harper withstood the onslaught and made a respectable fight of the clash as he managed to claim a few rounds from the tough Riverside, Calif., fighter.

The showdown was truly a display of iron chins and punch awareness, as both fighters ate copious amounts of leather throughout eight rounds of battle.

In the end, all three judges sides with Arreola (78-73, 77-74, 76-75), who upped his record to 36-4 with 31 KO. Harper dropped to 12-4 with 8 KO, bringing an end to his five-fight win streak.

Porter Stops Bone in Fifth

Shawn Porter (25-1, 16 KOs) bounced back from his first career defeat at the hands of Kell Brook to stop late replacement Erick Bone in a welterweight contest at 2:30 of round five.

Bone (16-2, 8 KOs) stepped in on late notice after Roberto Garcia did not take to the scale on Thursday. He was game, however, winning a few rounds on Sherdog.com’s unofficial scorecard prior to the circumstances that saw Porter walk away with the victory.

In what had become a slugfest entering the fifth round, Bone took an accidental fall to the canvas and appeared to suffer a right leg injury in the process. He was not the same fighter once he stood. Porter jumped all over his prey and scored two quick knockdowns; the second of which ended the fight as a hard right hand found a home on the chin.