Rubio Wins Despite Foe’s Dirty Tactics

IRVINE — Super lightweight Carlos Rubio is known for his boxing skills and clean fighting style, but he showed the Irvine Marriott crowd of 1,126 and his opponent, Manny Castillo, that he can do a Roberto Duran imitation too. Rubio won a unanimous 10-round decision Thursday night over the outclassed Castillo, but he had to put up with Castillo’s dirty tactics all night.

Castillo, who trains in East Los Angeles, tried every trick in the book--head butts, quick kneel downs, punching after the bell, arm tackles--but he didn’t have what he needed most: a punch. Rubio, clearly annoyed by Castillo’s antics, took out his frustration by pummeling Castillo for 10 rounds.

“I felt like I could hit him a lot so I went for it more than I usually do,” Rubio said through an interpreter. “But I wasn’t trying for the knockout, I would let it come on its own.”

Rubio (14-3-2), 19, from Guadalajara, Mexico, wasn’t trying to get on referee Chuck Hassett’s nerves, but he got caught up in Castillo’s games and twice had a point taken away for hitting Castillo (13-5-2) while he was kneeling down.

“He got a little dirty with me so I got a little dirty back at him,” said Rubio, who won, 99-92, on two scorecards and 97-90 on the other.

On the undercard, Westminster featherweight Marcos Licona raised his record to 7-0 with a first-round technical knockout of Jose Jimenez (0-3) of Rowland Heights.

Licona put Jimenez down early in the round with a wicked left hook and then finished him off with a combination at 2 minutes 26 seconds of the round.