Apr. 10, 1964 - Light-heavyweight champ Willie Pastrano (left) opened a wide cut over Gregorio Peralta’s left eye and retained his title on a sixth-round technical knockout in their scheduled 15-round bout tonight at the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans.
The cut was inflicted in the fourth round, and Pastrano, a New Orleans native, worked it over in the fifth. The gash appeared to be at least 1½ inches wide, and blood dripped into the aggressive Argentine’s eye.
“I knew it was just a matter of time after that cut came up,” Pastrano said after the fight. “That blood gave me a good target. All I had to do was pour it in there.”
Dr. A.J. Italiano inspected the gash after the fourth round and again after the fifth, a round in which Peralta mounted an all-out assault and battered Pastrano all over the ring with powerful left hooks and rights. When the bell sounded, it was announced the bout was stopped.
Each fighter weighed 174¾ pounds, and Peralta seemed in such good spirits at the noon weigh-in that it appeared trimming down to the 175-pound limit for the first time in 14 months hadn’t weakened him. Perhaps because of this, the 6-5 odds favoring Pastrano shifted to 7-5 in favor of Peralta in the late afternoon.
Peralta had weighed 183½ pounds to Pastrano’s 179 last Sept. 20 when he scored a decisive victory over Willie in a non-title 10-rounder at Miami Beach.
“I was a different boy this time,” said Pastrano. “The big difference is that I was in better shape. I fought real hard.”
He called Peralta “a gallant fighter” and said he would be “glad to give him another shot if he wants it.”
Pastrano was leading on the scorecards of two of the three ring officials and was even on the third. The Associated Press had Peralta ahead 3-2 in rounds, giving Pastrano the first two and Peralta the last three.
Peralta said the cut was caused by a butt and that he could have continued.
“I could have gone on longer,” said a downcast Peralta. “I was getting stronger with each round. The cut wasn’t bothering me too much. It’s just bad luck. My dream is lost.”
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