IRVINE BOXING : Fortune Gets Easy Victory

Australian heavyweight Justin Fortune worked a little harder and a little longer than he did last month, nonetheless he was impressive in knocking out Simi Valley’s Jimmy Mullen in two rounds Thursday night in front of 1,087 at the Irvine Marriott.

Fortune, who trains in Hollywood and resides in Sydney, softened up Mullen’s doughy midsection with a vicious body attack, then dropped him with a short left hook at the end of the first round, but the bell helped Mullen survive the round. Fortune (11-2-1 with seven knockouts) landed several more shots in the second before putting Mullen down with a right uppercut. Referee Marty Denkin quickly stopped the bout.

“He had a soft middle but I didn’t shoot it as much as I should have,” said Fortune, who was fined $50 for wearing the same color trunks as Mullen.

Fortune again talked of fighting Long Beach heavyweight Jeremy Williams, who is ranked among the top 10.

“I’ll fight Jeremy,” he said. “I don’t have any respect for anyone who’s out there but Mike (Tyson).”

Williams watched Fortune’s performance and wasn’t too impressed.

“He needs a lot of work,” Williams said. “He’s not in my league. He should watch it before shooting his mouth off.”

In the night’s most competitive fight, Seattle’s John John Palaki (13-1), bloodied from the second round on, won a split six-round decision over Paul Mayorquin (6-1-1) of Los Angeles. Mayorquin won the first two rounds and opened cuts over Palaki’s eyes. But Palaki, trained by Jessie Reid, was the stronger and more aggressive boxer the last four rounds.

Don (The Thugg) Goodwin (5-3) of Canoga Park knocked down Luis Mejia (6-7-1) of Irvine in the third round and won a majority four-round decision.

Bantamweight Alvara Soto of Mexicali (7-1-1) lost his first fight to Marius Frias of El Centro on a unanimous six-round decision. Frias (6-2-2), a 6-foot, 120-pounder, knocked down Soto in the third round with a straight right hand and frustrated Soto with his awkward style and long reach.

Junior welterweight Adan Casillas, a stablemate of two-time world champion Terry Norris, improved to 4-0 with a third-round knockout of San Diego’s Lucky Nhlengethwa. Casillas knocked down Nhlengethwa (5-5-1) in the first round with a left hook, then finished him off with a wicked overhand right 1 minute 36 seconds into the third.