Sad ending for Louie

Carlos Navarro was only seven years old when Luisito Espinosa made his professional boxing debut in 1984. And Navarro was 13 when Espinosa won the first of two world championships in 1989.

Today, Navarro is 27 and Espinosa, 37. The age gap was painfully evident as Navarro stopped Espinosa, coming off a 15-month layoff, at 1:49 of the seventh round at the Reno Hilton Hotel and Casino in Reno, Nevada, last Friday.

The sad ending came when referee Norm Budden, who worked his first world title fight only three years ago, stepped in to save Espinosa from further punishment. There were no knockdowns in the one-sided bout where, according to writer "Mad Dog" McCullough of the website fightnews.com, "Espinosa had no answer for the youth and strength of Navarro."

It was a crossroads fight for both Navarro and Espinosa.

Navarro raced to a 19-0 record after turning pro in 1996 but has now won only six of his last 10 bouts. In his most devastating loss, Navarro was brutally halted by Nate Campbell in Biloxi, in June 2002. Navarro was floored thrice in the second round, survived and capitulated in the fifth round. He has also lost to Lamont Pearson by knockout and Carlos Contreras on points.

The sixth of 12 children, Navarro began boxing at four. He was an outstanding amateur, capturing the flyweight gold medal at the Junior Olympics in 1992 and the Golden Gloves title in 1993. Navarro — born and raised in Los Angeles — competed as a bantamweight at the 1994 Goodwill Games, the 1994 Italian Mestre Tournament, the 1994 and 1995 US Nationals, the 1995 Cuba Cardin Tournament and the 1995 Olympic Festival.

Navarro was among six featherweight contenders who qualified for the 1996 US Olympic Trials but didn’t make it to Atlanta. The survivor was Floyd Mayweather who went on to bag a bronze in Atlanta. The featherweight gold medallist was Somluck Kamsing of Thailand.

Nicknamed "El Surdo de Oro" (in English, "The Golden Lefty"), Navarro won the World Boxing Union superbantamweight title in 1998 and lost it in his fourth defense to Contreras a year later.

Curiously, another Contreras proved to be Espinosa’s nemesis in 1991. Espinosa lost the World Boxing Association bantamweight crown to Israel Contreras in his third defense two years after wresting the crown from Khakor Galaxy on a one round knockout in Bangkok.

Espinosa outpointed Manuel Medina to snatch the World Boxing Council featherweight title in Tokyo in 1995 and repulsed seven straight challengers before yielding the throne to Cesar Soto on a disputed decision four years later. He lost a technical verdict to Guty Espadas in a bid to reclaim the vacant crown in Merida, Mexico, in 2000.

McCullough reported that after a slow first round, Navarro began to assert himself in the Reno fight promoted by Greg Gulli. "Heavy punches to the body and head took a visible toll on Espinosa round after round," wrote McCullough. "Espinosa needs to reconsider his options before continuing."

McCullough said Navarro was "too fast and too strong" for the Filipino.

Espinosa was coming off a first round knockout win over Marco Angel Perez but that was over a year ago. He has now lost five of his last eight outings.

In a starting coincidence, the last three fighters to knock out Espinosa were 1996 US Olympic Boxing Trials veterans — Navarro, Zahir Raheem and Augie Sanchez.

The setback dropped Espinosa’s record to 47-12, with 26 KOs. Navarro raised his mark to 25-3-1, with 20 KOs.

Last year, an attempt was made to lure International Boxing Organization Cassius Baloyi of South Africa to defend his title against Espinosa in Manila. But Espinosa was prevented by immigration authorities from leaving the US where he has lived with his wife Marie Cherie and their three children since 1998. Espinosa needed a parole visa to leave the US without jeopardizing his application for immigrant status.

Espinosa’s wife Marie Cherie said it is up to the former two-time world champion to decide when to hang up his gloves.

"Let’s give the poor guy the chance to decide when he wants to retire," she pleaded in an e-mail to The Star last December. "He still has at least two more years (of fighting) left and we’re hoping by this time, swertihin naman kami with the right people and the right trainer."

It was not certain who worked Espinosa’s corner in the Navarro fight. There was talk that Espinosa had rehired Dee Pooler but an unconfirmed report said he is now training under Flor Rivera, a Filipino working out of a Las Vegas gym.