BOXING ROUNDUP : Williams Beats Cooper in Seventh Round

Jeremy Williams of Long Beach won by disqualification over Bert Cooper of Sharon Hill, Pa., at 1:48 in the seventh round of a scheduled 10-round main event at the Grand Olympic Auditorium Friday night.

Referee Robert Byrd stopped the fight after Cooper (32-14) spit out his mouthpiece for the sixth time. California State Athletic Commission rules require a boxer to fight with a mouthpiece for safety reasons.

“I stopped the fight because Cooper was continuously spitting out his mouth piece,” Byrd said.

Cooper, who lost a point after spitting out his mouthpiece in the fourth round, said that the protector was too large for his mouth.

Williams (17-1, 13 knockouts), has won two fights at the Olympic since his loss by decision to Larry Donald on March 12 in Las Vegas. He was ahead on all three judge’s cards when the fight was stopped.

“My trainer (Joe Goossen) told me to go to his body and forget his head,” Williams said. “His head was like granite. I hit him hard with a right cross. I used a lot of sneaky stuff.

“I guess he didn’t read my bio, cause I was able to switch-up and hit him hard with my left.”

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Marco Antonio Barrera of Mexico knocked out countryman Mike Espinoza with one second remaining in the sixth round of their super-bantamweight bout at the Forum.

Barrera improved to 31-0 with 21 knockouts. Espinoza is 29-9-2.