16.09.07 – By Ron Hansen: – Photo credit: Naoki Fukuda – World Boxing Association light flyweight champion Edgar Sosa (29-5, 15 KOs) TKO’d challenger Lorenzo Trejo (30-16, 17 KOs) in the 9th round on Sunday night at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sosa, 28, hurt Trejo with a left hook to the body in the 9th round, and then finished him off with a hail of punches as he lay against the ropes. The fight was stopped at 2:02 of the 9th round by referee Tony Weeks. It was Sosa’s second defense for the title he won earlier in the year after defeating Brian Viloria. Trejo, ranked #3 in the WBC and #8 in the IBF, moved up from the minimumweight boxing division – 105 lbs – to challenge Sosa for his title.
As it turns out, Trejo probably wishes he’d stayed at that weight because he struggled with trying to cope with Sosa’s jabs for much of the bout and ended up taking a large amount of punishment along the way.
Sosa controlled the first several rounds of the fight, fighting behind his jab which he repeatedly shot into Trejo’s face as he waded in. It was immediately clear that Trejo wouldn’t be able to match Sosa in terms of handspeed, and would be forced to take a lot of shots for every punch that he landed. Trejo seemed to understand this and didn’t shy away from contact in the least.
In the fourth round, Trejo was staggered at the end of the round after being tagged by a left hook and two right hands by Sosa. Before this, Sosa had mostly thrown jabs during the round, and when he suddenly opened up with an aggressive attack, Trejo seemed to be taken by surprise and not ready fro the amount of hard punches.
Trejo began to take a huge amount of punishment beginning in the 5th round, as Sosa started mixing in a lot more combinations along with his numerous jabs that he’d already been throwing in the earlier rounds. By this time, Trejo was getting hit with everything, and had little defense against most of the shots. At the same time, he was finding it very difficult to try and land any of his own punches due to the constant movement by Sosa.
Sosa upped his level combinations in the 7th round, as he frequently came inside and pounded Trejo with fast hooks, and then moved away before Trejo could retaliate with anything. Sosa did get hit more in this round, however, than he had in the previous rounds, but so did Trejo, whose eyes were beginning to swell up from all the shots he’d absorbed. In the eighth round, Sosa let loose with a flurry of hooks at the end of the round against a weary looking Trejo. Sosa had done almost of the punching in the round, as Trejo was reduced to listlessly following him around and taking shots repeatedly.
In the ninth round, Sosa continued dishing out constant punishment, now coming in the form of wicked shots thrown repeatedly. Trejo was no longer coming forward as he had in the earlier rounds. Instead, it was Sosa who stalked him and served up constant blows. Sosa finally caught Trejo with a left hook to the midsection, which visibly hurt him and causing him to bend forward from the pain.
Sosa then opened up with a volley of punches that backed Trejo up to the ropes where he was a sitting duck, unable to escape or avoid any of the shots. The referee Tony Weeks quickly moved in and waved off the fight at 2:03 of the round when he saw that Trejo was helpless to defend himself.