PARIS -- Milton McCrory of Detroit pounded challenger Pedro Villela through 12 nearly effortless rounds Saturday to score the fourth successful defense of his World Boxing Council welterweight title.
McCrory, 23, who boasted before the fight he would knock Villela out within three rounds, won by a wide points margin and left the ring smiling, with only minor scratches on his face to show for the fight.
The Swiss, Italian and French judges scored the fight 120-113, 120-112 and 418-112, all for McCrory.
'I was trying to knock him out,' said McCrory, who has also defeated Milton Guest, Gilles Elbilia and Lloyd Taylor since winning the WBC crown from Welshman Colin Jones in August, 1983.
The win raised the champion's record to 26-0-1 while Villela, a Puerto Rican-born New Yorker, suffered his first loss as a professional and dropped to 18-1-1.
'I tried to hit him solid but he'd grab and wriggle and I couldn't get him,' said McCrory, who has knocked out 20 opponents. 'It wasn't really a tough fight, but I wanted to knock him out.'
The 6-foot, 1-inch McCrory, who had more than a 5-inch height advantage and carried 10 pounds more weight than Villela, took the offensive from the opening bell with hard body blows and allowed his opponent few chances to score on counterpunches.
Villela, who defeated Marlon Starling last June to earn his title chance, leaned back on the ropes for much of the fight and tried, without success, to counter McCrory's jabs with inside punches.
Twice Villela slipped and fell. The second time, in the seventh round, he took hold of McCrory's legs as though he would tackle him.
'I just couldn't get off the ropes. I tried, but I just couldn't get my hands off. I don't know why. Your hands want to do it but for some reason they can't,' said Villela, 26, whose face was swollen and bruised after the match.
'But I fought a champion and he beat me fair and square.'
McCrory said he hoped to arrange his next fight in May or June against Aaron Pryor before taking on World Boxing Association welterweight champion Don Curry later this year. He said he would move up to the super-welterweight division after fighting Curry.
Villela said he would return to New York to begin work on earning a second shot at the title.
