LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Alexis Arguello sent challenger Roberto Elizondo to the canvas three times Saturday en route to a seventh-round knockout and the second successful defense of his World Boxing Council world lightweight title within seven weeks.
The end came at 3:07 of the seventh when Arguello delivered a hard left to the body and as Elizondo slumped, the champion hit the challenger in the head with a grazing right hand to deck the WBC No. 3 contender for the count.
Elizondo crawled to a sitting position on the ropes, but the fight was over.
'I asked him if he wanted to continue,' said referee Joey Curtis, 'but he said 'no' and I continued the count.'
The beginning of the end came earlier in the round when Arguello, 135, delivered a right-hand bomb to the chin and sent Elizondo, 133 , to the canvas. After Curtis made a mandatory eight count and permitted the fight to continue, Arguello stalked his opponent, waiting for the opportunity to deliver the knockout punch.
The first knockdown of the fight occurred in the fourth round when Arguello, 29, showed his counterpunching ability.
Elizondo, who was the aggressor throughout, pinned the champion on the ropes near Arguello's corner and delivered a barrage of punches directed at the title-holder's head.
Arguello blocked most of the punches with his gloves and suddenly unleashed two blinding left-right combinations to Elizondo's head and the challenger was on the deck.
'I need a good vacation,' said Arguello, who won the lightweight title June 27 with a decision over James Watt in London, and, in his first defense, knocked out Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini in the 14th round Oct. 3 in Atlantic City.
'He (Elizondo) is a good boxer,' said the Managua, Nicaragua, native, who now calls Miami, Fla. home. 'My reach advantage helped and my left jab did the job.'
Attempting to crowd Arguello to negate the champion's reach, Elizondo instead found Arguello's quick jab and it raised a welt under his left eye by the third round. As Elizondo became more cautious of the left jab, the right found the head and the left began working on the body.
Eddie Futch, Arguello's trainer, said Arguello's body attack did Elizondo in.
'Those body punches took their toll,' said Futch. 'Every time one of those punches slammed into the liver or heart of Elizondo, he became a little bit weaker. The punch to the head just finished him off. The damage came earlier.'
Arguello, one of only six fighters ever to hold titles in three weight divisions, increased his record to 73-4 with 59 knockouts and 17 straight wins in title bouts.
Asked what's next, the champion said, 'A vacation.'
'I'm not going to fight anymore this year,' he said. 'I'll do whatever my manager wants me to do after the first of the year.'
He said it would be up to his handlers whether or not to try for a fourth title. He also has won the World Boxing Association featherweight and WBC junior lightweight titles in his career.
Elizondo fell to 22-2.
