Mora’s Debut Is Quick, Easy

Javier Mora knows it won’t always be so easy--a knockout in only 74 seconds. But the Westminster heavyweight didn’t care that his opponent was winless in four fights or that he outweighed him by 50 pounds.

He was simply happy to have his professional debut behind him. It took only two hard body shots for Mora to stop Tom Allen of Mesa, Ariz., Thursday night at the Arrowhead Pond before 3,465.

“A knockout on the first night of my pro career in front of my home crowd, I can’t ask for more than that,” said Mora, who left the amateurs after losing in the consolation semifinals of the Olympic trials.

Mora has dropped some 20 pounds since the trials, but he still looked rather beefy, especially compared to Allen, who weighed 201 pounds. “We plan to turn his weight into muscle,” said Mora’s trainer, Manuel Robles Jr.

Norm Kaplan, Mora’s manager, said he was impressed with his fighter’s game plan. “He didn’t go crazy,” Kaplan said. “He was poised. He stalked the guy and then took him out.”

Mora, 19, stunned Allen with a left hook and then put him down with a vicious right hook to the kidney. Allen crumbled to the canvas and didn’t get up for a few minutes.

“We didn’t want to put him in against a tough guy,” Robles said. “For now, this is good. We’re happy. We’ll just keep him busy and keep his mind on boxing.”

The other Mora who made his pro debut wasn’t nearly as impressive, but he still won--barely. Sergio Mora, a junior middleweight from Montebello who also lost at the Olympic trials, won a split decision over Tony Maldonado of Bell. But Mora was knocked down in the first round and he had to win the last round to secure the victory.

“It was a very disappointing win,” said Mora, who is not related to Javier Mora. “I was expecting a lot more.”

Sergio Mora, the No. 2-ranked amateur in the nation, took a knee in the first round after being hit with an overhand right to the jaw. “That was definitely a wake-up call,” he said.

Mora, 20, recovered to wobble Maldonado (1-2) with a fierce left hook, but he never had Maldonado in trouble again. He spent much of the four rounds lunging at Maldonado and trying to land a knockout punch.

“The transition from the amateurs is tough,” Mora said. “I need a little bit more experience. I wanted to impress the crowd and [the media] so much, I forgot about the most important thing--to hit the guy in front of me.”

Junior welterweight Roddy Grajeda, a recent graduate of Loara High, won his debut two months ago, but he was beaten badly Thursday by Anthony DeJesus of San Jose.

Grajeda knocked down DeJesus in the first round. But DeJesus (2-1) battered Grajeda in the second round with a flurry of combinations to the head. At 1 minute 37 seconds of the round, referee Marty Denkin stepped in and stopped it.

“He butted me about four or five times,” Grajeda said. “I told the referee. He didn’t do anything.”

But neither Denkin nor anyone at ringside saw any head butts. Grajeda, whose right eye was swollen shut, said he will return to the ring next month at the Irvine Marriott.

In the main event, featherweight Israel Vasquez (27-2-1) of Mexico City knocked out Javier Varquez (41-23) of Merida, Mexico, in the third round.