Armijo Stops Goossen in Second Round

IRVINE —  Huntington Beach’s John Armijo made an exciting, if not controversial, comeback Thursday night with a stunning second-round knockout of North Hollywood’s Chuck Goossen that left the Irvine Marriott Ballroom crowd of 1,027 cheering and jeering.

Armijo (15-7), fighting his first bout in almost a year, spent much of the first round on the ropes taking hard combinations and giving little, if anything back. But early in the second round, he sent the charging Goossen (5-2) down with a straight left hand.

Goossen stood up at the count of eight but stumbled badly into the ropes as he tried to regain his balance. When referee Jose Cobian came over to Goossen, he asked him a question and then quickly stopped the bout 34 seconds into the round.

“When I asked him if he was all right, he didn’t respond and he was still leaning on the ropes,” Cobian said. “His pupils were dilated. It’s too bad. I’m not going to ruin his career, though. He can come back from this.”

Goossen said he thought he could have come back Thursday night.

“They stopped it too soon,” said Goossen, who weighed 141 pounds, same as Armijo. “They wanted the homeboy to win. I replied when he asked me if I was OK and said I was fine.”

Armijo, ecstatic about his victory, wasn’t about to question Cobian.

“I’m not surprised they stopped it, but that’s not my job,” said Armijo, who has lost 13 pounds since his last fight.

Armijo said he was fortunate to survive the first round.

“He hit me with some good shots,” he said. “They probably would have knocked most guys out. But I’m in the best shape of my life.”

In the undercard, middleweight Rodney Toney (13-0-2) of Campo took out Luis Mejia of Santa Domingo in 53 seconds with a right hook. Jason Williams of Long Beach knocked Maurice Gray cold with a straight left hand at :48 of the second round.