Multi-belt flyweight titlist Gabriela Fundora stayed unbeaten with a dominant TKO7 over previously unbeaten Marilyn Badillo on Saturday night. Fundora (16-0-1, 8 KOs) floored Badillo in the seventh round and when she got up she indicated she did not want to continue. Official time of the stoppage was 1:44.
In an earlier bout, super welterweight Charles Conwell suffered his first pro defeat, dropping a split decision to Jorge Perez over 12 rounds. Conwell (21-1, 16 KOs) was heavily favored over Perez (33-4-0, 26 KOs) but lost by scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 113-115 for Perez.
Fundora came out slowly in the first round but then turned on her attack in round two, peppering the much-shorter Badillo with both hands out of a southpaw stance. Badillo landed some hard left hands on occasion but for the most part was unable to get inside on Fundora and land consistently.
The end came when Badillo went down hard from a left to the head and got up quickly, but told the referee she did not want to continue. Fundora’s power was too much as Badillo took her first defeat.
Conwell suffered the upset after Perez came on in the second half of the fight and neutralized Conwell’s attack. The rangy Perez fired off combinations while Conwell tried to maul his way inside. Perez did more damage by punching around Conwell’s guard and working the body as well as the head. It is now time to regroup for Conwell, who was ranked in the top five at 154 by two sanctioning bodies.
