Wills Drops White With Knockout : 7-Foot Loser Cries Foul After Going Down in 10th Round

Mark Wills used a long, powerful left hook to knock out Mike White in the 10th round Thursday night in a heavyweight fight before 1,223 spectators at the Irvine Marriott.

White, who is 7-feet tall and 275 pounds, said he was slowed by punches below the belt throughout the fight.

But Wills was only charged with low punches twice, losing two points. Wills lost a point in the fourth and the seventh rounds and each time, White called timeout to recover.

White appeared to be hit with another low punch in the ninth round and called timeout, but no point was taken from Wills.

White (22-8) also lost a point for holding later in the ninth.

Despite losing two points, Wills (13-6) was still ahead on all three cards going into the 10th and final round.

White paced alone in his dressing room after the fight with more contempt in his eyes than he showed during the fight.

When asked how much the low blows slowed him, he said: “Quite a bit. They took a lot out of me. He threw a lot more than were called, too. He also head-butted me a lot. I had to hold him to keep him from butting me.”

Wills, to no surprise, didn’t agree with White’s version of the fight.

“Those punches were right on the border of his belt,” Wills said. “It was hard to reach him at times, he is a very big man. Finally in the 10th, I caught him with a left hand that I needed to hit him with.” The end came at 1:37.

It was the second consecutive time White has been knocked out. Levi Billups dropped White in the fifth round to take White’s state heavyweight title June 30.

“I’m not going to give up,” White said. “I think the other fight (with Billups) was worse than this one. I don’t know if I’m getting a fair shake. I’m not going to fight here (Irvine) anymore. It’s not doing my career or my record any good.”

On the undercard, Rocky Goddard of London landed the most impressive single punch of the night in his first-round knockout of Allan Mainus.

Goddard (2-0-1) used an arcing left to drop Mainus (1-1) at the 2:07 mark of the first round of the 175-pound fight.

Johnny Tapia also scored a first-round knockout in his 116-pound bout in the semi-main event. He used a series of body shots to weaken Manuel Martinez, then caught him with a combination to end the fight at 1:50 into the first round.