Broomfield – Stevie Johnston of Denver retained his International Boxing Association world lightweight title Friday night by defeating Humberto Toledo in a 12-round major decision at the Broomfield Event Center.
“Li’l But Bad,” Johnston said, referring to his nickname, “is back.”
Johnston (41-4-1), who said he’s been sober for two years, dominated much of the bout, particularly in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds. Toledo (31-4-2), the WBC Latino and FEDEBOL super featherweight champion from Ecuador, ran sideways to his corner in the fourth round after a Johnston flurry.
Just as Johnston closed in, the bell sounded, giving Toledo another chance. Johnston, fighting for a title in Colorado for the first time since 2000, dominated the fifth and sixth rounds, but in the sixth, a head butt opened a gash above Johnston’s left eye.
The seventh, eighth and ninth rounds were close. In the 10th, Johnston was on the ropes early but landed better punches. He appeared close to getting another knockout in the 11th, just before another head butt by Toledo briefly stopped the fight.
“I was real close,” Johnston said of producing a knockout. “When he got hit, he’d pull up with his head. He added up a couple more scars to my face.”
The official scoring had Johnston ahead 119-109, 118-110 and 120-108. Johnston and his trainer, Jim Rider, were hoping such a dominating performance, witnessed by an estimated crowd of 2,500, will draw another title-holder to the Pepsi Center in August or September.
“I told everybody that I want to unify the division and bring all the titles to Colorado, and here we go,” Johnston said. “Humberto was tough, man. He came to fight. He came to take the title, but I was Li’l But Bad.”
Six other bouts were on the card, including another IBA title fight between Thornton’s Adrian Mora and Marc Thompson of Topeka, Kan.
Mora (19-0-1) won easily, knocking down Thompson 46 seconds into the bout and recording a technical knockout at 54 seconds. Mora obtained the vacant IBC world light welterweight title to go along with his NABA crown.
“It seemed like he was in great shape and he wanted to fight,” Mora said. “He wasn’t running at all. I wanted to fight, too, and just got to him quick. With this being in my hometown, I did want this to go longer for the fans, but I’ll take what I can get.”
