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Friday, October 20
 
Judah retains IBF title; Ali wins

Associated Press

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Zab Judah pounded Hector Quiroz's face lopsided and retained the IBF junior welterweight title by stopping the Mexican challenger in the eighth round Friday night.

The end came at 1:56 when with Quiroz's right cheek badly swollen and his right eye nearly closed, referee Dale Grable stopped the match on the advice of a ringside physician.

The fight preceded the 10-round heavyweight match between Mike Tyson and Andrew Golota before an announced crowd of 16,228 in the Palace of Auburn Hills.

In another undercard bout, Laila Ali, with dad Muhammad Ali watching at ringside, stayed unbeaten with a unanimous decision over Kendra Lenhart in the toughest match of her eight-bout career.

Judah, 139¼, of Brooklyn, N.Y., ran his record to 25-0 with 19 KOs, while Quiroz, 140, of Mexico, lost for the fifth time against 31 wins and one draw. He has 25 knockouts.

While the crowd often booed lapses in the action, the left-handed Judah scored with enough sharp punches to the head to make Quiroz's face into a mask of pain. It was the third successful defense of the 140-pound title for Judah, who will turn 23 next Friday.

The 22-year-old Ali, who had won her first seven fights by knockout, had her hands full with 34-year-old Kendra Lenhart in a six-round bout in the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Lenhart appeared to have the best of the first three rounds before Ali started to come on. But one judge scored the fight 60-54 for Ali, giving her every round. Each of the other two judges scored it 58-56 for Ali.

"I'm disappointed I didn't knock her out and I got hit too much," the 5-foot-10, 165¼-pound Ali said. "But she was a big girl. I hit her with some good shots. I should have boxed more."

The 6-0½ Lenhart, 165½, of Lenoir, Tenn., is now 6-8-1.

In a 10-round bout that opened the pay-for-view telecast, Alex Trujillo, 136, of Puerto Rico, got up from a fourth-round knockdown and scored a 10-round unanimous decision over Jose Juarez, 134, of Mexico.

In a heavyweight bout that was not televised, David Izon, 224, a native of Nigeria living at Pensacola, Fla., stopped Mike Sedillo, 226, of Chino, Calif., in the third round.




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