By Francisco Salazar

Super welterweight Said El Harrak had a height and reach advantage over Bernardo Guereca.

Unfortunately for Guereca, he also had to deal with El Harrak's power as well.

El Harrak was just too much for Guereca, forcing him to quit on his stool after the second round of a scheduled six round bout at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles.

The bout headlined a 10-bout "Battle of the Rising Stars" card, presented by All Star Boxing Promotions.

El Harrak was just too strong for Guereca, who to his credit tried to fight back. Guereca was able to slip d counter, but his punches had little effect on El Harrak, who was able to land often with shots to the head and body.

As the bout progressed, albeit a few moments when El Harrak landed low, Guereca's punch output dropped considerably.

After the second round, Guereca was not able to continue, thus declaring El Harrak as the winner by technical knockout.

El Harrak, from Santa Clarita, CA, goes to 12-2-1, 7 KOs. Guereca, from El Paso, TX, drops to 17-21-2, 4 KOs.

Heavyweight Hamilton Ventura stopped veteran Galen Brown in the fourth round of a scheduled eight round bout. Ventura (13-0-1, 10 KOs) stalked Brown around the ring for most of the fight. By the third round, Brown (41-25-1, 24 KOs) was in survival mode, even playing to the crowd by moving his arms around, pretending to feint, or even sticking his tongue out at Ventura. In the fourth round, Ventura stunned Brown with a counter right hand to the head. Brown backed up against the ropes with Ventura on pursuit to do more damage. Before he was able to follow up, referee Jerry Cantu stopped the bout at 33 seconds. 

In a bout between unbeaten heavyweight prospects, Charles Martin stopped Glendy Hernandez after the fourth round of a scheduled six round bout. The southpaw Martin (13-0-1 11 KOs) pressed the fight, but would mainly throw one left hand. Hernandez (10-1, 6 KOs) rarely threw anything of substance, cocking his right hand back to counter. During an exchange in the third round, Martin's head inadvertently butted Hernandez's jaw. Moments later, a left hand by Martin dropped Hernandez to the canvas. Hernandez was not visibly hurt and fought back well in the fourth round, landing a series of counter right crosses to the head of Martin. However, Martin rallied later in the round, landing two hard shots to Hernandez's chin to punctuate the round. After the round ended, Hernandez told referee Raul Caiz, Jr. that he was not able to continue.

Featherweight Leonardo Chavez knocked out Humberto Zatarain in the first round of a scheduled four round bout. Zatarain (3-2-2) started out fast, putting Chavez on the defensive and connecting with left hooks to the head. When the pace slowed, Chavez (2-1, 1 KO) began to time Zatarain moving in. Before the 10-second count, Chavez landed a left hook to Zatarain's head, dropping him to the canvas. Zatarain struggled to get up as referee Dr. Lou Moret counted him out at 2:59.

Lightweight Daniel Franco won a hard-fought six round unanimous decision over Alejandro Ochoa. It was a rematch of their draw from earlier this year. Franco (6-0-2, 3 KOs) landed the sharper and more effective punches, but Franco was able to land an abundant amount of counter shots to the head, particularly with the right hand. Ochoa (3-7-2 1 KO) began to tire by the fourth round, fighting off the ropes in spurts. Franco was able to get on the inside of Ochoa's guard, landing  repeated right hands to the head. All three judges scored the bout in favor of Franco, 60-54, 59-55, and 58-56. Boxingscene.com scored the bout 58-56 in favor of Franco.

Lightweight Celene Roman won a six round majority decision over Crystal Morales. Both fighters had their moments throughout the fight. Morales (8-10-1, 1 KO) pressed the action, landing repressed with hooks to the head and body. As Morales pressed forward, Roman (3-1-1) was able to connect with straight counter right hands to the head. The last two rounds saw a great ebb and flow between the two fighters, both landing equally to the head and body. One judge scored the bout even 57-57, while the other two judges scored the bout 58-56 for Roman. Boxingscene.com scored the bout 58-56 for Morales.

Super middleweight Neeco Macias stopped Robert Duran (0-2) in the first round of a schedules four round bout. Macias (2-0, 1 KO) dropped Duran with a left-right combination to the head. Referee Dr. Lou Moret stepped in and stopped the bout at 2:40.

Heavyweight Andrae Carthon stopped Helamob Olguin in the third round of a scheduled four round bout. Both fighters spent the first two rounds swinging for the fences, trying to land lead or counter hooks and crosses. Carthon (7-10-2, 2 KOs) landed more, even though he was just as tired as Olguin by the start of the third round. In that round, Carthon landed a barrage of punches midway through the third, dropping Olguin (1-2, 1 KO) to one knee. Olguin got up, but was exhausted, backing away from Carthon. Another barrage of punches dropped Olguin again to one knee, prompting referee Raul Caiz, Jr. to stop the bout at 2:54.

Bantamweight Raymond Chacon won a four round unanimous decision over Anthony Villareal. Chacon (5-6) dropped Villareal with a counter left to the head in the opening round. Villareal (10-5, 5 KOs) was not hurt and controlled the action during the first half of the fight. The southpaw Chacon was able to box from the outside, controlling the tempo and effectively countering Villareal to the head in the second half of the fight. All three judges scored the bout in favor of Chacon, 39-36, 39-36, and 38-37. Boxingscene.com scored the bout 38-37 in favor of Chacon. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. He also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, Knockout Nation, and RingTV. He could be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on twitter at FSalazarBoxing