Frias Pounds Magana, Gains 9th-Round Knockout

ANAHEIM — Marius Frias didn’t come into Monday’s night World Boxing Organization Intercontinental junior featherweight title fight with an impressive record or an impressive body. But he left the ring with the respect and the belt of a bruised and badly beaten Jesse Magana.

Frias, affectionately called “Sticks” by the several in the Pond crowd of 2,232 because of his stick-figure appearance, used an 11-inch reach advantage and a five-inch height advantage to pick apart Magana and eventually knock him out 1 minute 28 seconds into the ninth round.

A thoroughly frustrated Magana (19-6-2) never landed a solid punch to Frias’ wiry frame.

“I was trying to get inside, but he moved well,” Magana said. “He was like a lizard in there.”

Frias (10-5-3, three knockouts) won the first three rounds with his boxing ability, then began throwing harder combinations in the fourth round. Magana’s left eye and right cheek began to swell late in the fourth after a hard left hand by Frias.

By the ninth, Magana’s face was a mess and Frias was teeing off on Magana’s head. He landed a solid left hand that sent Magana into the ropes. Seconds later, he hammered Magana with another flurry of combinations. Finally, referee Lou Moret stepped in and stopped the bout.

“I think I fought the perfect fight tonight,” said Frias, 21, who trains in Coachella and lives in El Centro. “My plan was to use my distance.”

Frias, who was 3-0 while fighting at the Irvine Marriott, attributes his mediocre record to three tough-luck decisions he lost to bigger name fighters, most recently Victor Rabanales in Indio on Feb. 14.

“The Forum Boxing people [the event’s promoters] laughed at us when I said we would win this,” said Frias’ manager, Lee Espinoza. “All this guy needed was a little confidence.”

In the semi-main event, heavyweight Ed Mahone (12-0-1, 12 knockouts) of Los Angeles started sluggishly, but eventually wore down an undersized Val Smith (7-5) of Los Angeles and knocked him out 1 minute 28 seconds into the third round with a flurry of body punches.

“I didn’t want to start winging punches and get caught with a counterpunch,” Mahone said, “so I wanted to see what he had.”

Mahone took inventory of every Smith punch for the first two minutes before he threw his first punch. Most of Smith’s punches were picked off by Mahone’s gloves, but a few right hands and jabs got through.

“I’m not hurt, but I obviously took a few shots,” Mahone said. “I can feel them now.”

Once Mahone realized Smith’s shots weren’t going to do any serious damage, he began unleashing a body attack. By the end of the second round, Smith, outweighed by 16 pounds, had stopped moving and he was no longer throwing punches.

“I feel my body punches are my best weapon,” Mahone said. “The body punches take your legs away, then they wear down your arms and that makes your chin vulnerable.”

Mahone, who was fighting for the first time since his trainer Alex Sherer died last week, said he is moving back to Detroit to train with Bill Miller, who trained James Toney and Tony Tucker.