Baldwin Park Boxer Dies One Day After Knockout

Baldwin Park boxer Rico Velazquez, who collapsed immediately after his bout Friday night, died Saturday of a cerebral hemorrhage in a hospital in San Jose.

Velazquez, 22, who was defending his California lightweight championship for the third time, collapsed in the eighth round Friday, seconds after the referee had stopped the bout and awarded a technical knockout to Velazquez’s opponent, David Gonzales of San Jose.

Velazquez, unconscious, was taken from the San Jose Civic Auditorium to San Jose Medical Center, where he underwent brain surgery late Friday night.

He was declared dead at 5:10 p.m., after a life-support system was removed with his family’s consent, said San Jose Hospital spokeswoman Christi Welter. He had been declared brain dead at about 3:30 p.m.

Dr. Jeff Gutman, who helped care for Velazquez after a two-hour operation Saturday morning to drain his blood clots, said the injury was caused by a sharp, sudden motion and that it may have resulted from a single blow.

“He had a cerebral hemorrhage that caused brain swelling that ended his life,” Gutman said. “We did everything we could, but his brain was too badly injured.”

Velazquez’s father, Jesus Velazquez, was a cornerman for his son’s fight. According to Jack Fiske of the San Francisco Chronicle, who covered the fight:

“The referee (Hank Elespuru of Sacramento) stopped the fight early in the eighth round, and the kid took one or two steps toward his corner and collapsed.”

The Associated Press quoted Elespuru as saying: “I asked him how he felt and he said ‘fine,’ but as he took a couple of steps toward his corner, he slipped out of my hands to the canvas.”

Velazquez, originally from McAllen, Tex., had a 21-5 record going into the bout, including six straight victories. Gonzales, 19, has an 18-1-1 record.

Fiske said the bout turned into an unexpected mismatch.

“On paper, it looked like an even fight going in. They seemed evenly matched,” he said. “But by the third round, it was a mismatch. Velazquez was too gutty, too brave for his own good. He couldn’t hit Gonzales hard enough to keep him off of him.”

Fiske said Gonzales knocked Velazquez down with a body punch at the end of the seventh round. He also said that Velazquez had been knocked into a sitting position on the bottom rope in the fifth round, and that he had been wobbled by a blow to the chin early in the seventh.

Elespuru, a veteran referee who has officiated several world championship bouts, stopped the bout when Velazquez was on the ropes, taking numerous punches from Gonzales.

Velazquez began his career in Texas, then moved to Southern California in May, 1987.

Velazquez trained in Baldwin Park under trainer Mike Salas. Velazquez scored knockout wins in his first three fights in Southern California, including a fourth-round knockout of world-ranked South Korean contender Chil-Sung Chun at the Sports Arena last October.

Velazquez suffered a third-round knockout, however, against Yogi Buchanan in the Forum lightweight tournament title fight in December. He was on the floor twice in that bout.

Velazquez won the state lightweight title in April with a 12-round decision over Rocky Cazares in Fresno.

He defended the title first in Riverside, in May, with a decision over Robert Lewis. Velazquez was knocked down once in that bout. He won a second-round knockout win over David Guerra in Sacramento in a June non-title bout.

He defended the championship July 1 with a fifth-round knockout over Robert Lewis in an ESPN-televised show from Reseda.

“Rico was fighting on just about a once-a-month pace since July of 1987,” said Dean Lohuis, an Irvine boxing statistician.

Other ring deaths in California since 1980 have included:

--Johnny Owen, who died Nov. 3, 1980, 45 days after he went into a knockout-induced coma during his World Boxing Council bantamweight championship fight with Lupe Pintor at the Olympic Auditorium.

--Kiko Bejines, who died Sept. 4, 1983, three days after suffering brain injuries during his WBC bantamweight bout with Albert Davila at the Olympic.