clarinews@clarinet.com (DAVE RAFFO, UPI Sports Writer) (01/16/90)
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (UPI) -- Doug ``The Cobra'' DeWitt shut both of Matthew Hilton's eyes Monday night, prompting referee Randy Neuman to stop the bout and declare DeWitt the winner after the 11th round of their scheduled 12-round middlweight bout. DeWitt, of Yonkers, N.Y., improved to 32-6-4 with 18 knockouts and retained the fledgling World Boxing Organzation's middleweight crown. Hilton, a former world junior middleweight champion, fell to 30-2-1. The fight was on the undercard of the George Foreman-Gerry Cooney heavyweight bout at the Convention Center. In other fights, heavyweight prospects Ray Mercer and Bruce Seldon remained unbeaten. Mercer, the 1988 Olympic heavyweight champion, improved to 13-0 with 10 knockouts by stopping Wesley Watson, 15-3, at 44 seconds of the fifth round. Seldon improved to 9-0 with 8 knockouts by stopping Lorenzo Canaday, 8-8-1, in two rounds. DeWitt, 160 pounds, started slow but found the range with his left hand to close Hilton's right eye in the third round. Hilton bled from the nose in the eighth and his right eye closed early in the 11th. Ringside physician Frank Doggett checked Hilton's eye after the third and fourth rounds but allowed him to continue. Hilton's manager-father, Davey Hilton Sr., finally saw his son take enough punishment and asked Neuman to stop it with one round left. Hilton had a point deducted by Neuman for low blows in the ninth round and tired badly after the eighth. Despite the damage, Hilton fought well in the middle rounds. He rocked DeWitt with head blows in the sixth and pounded him again in the eighth. However, he spent much of the final three rounds retreating after running out of gas. DeWitt seemed hurt by a right-left-right combination with 30 seconds left in the 10th round, but dominated the round to that point and finished on the attack. A strong body puncher, Hilton concentrated on DeWitt's head though DeWitt has one of the best chins in the middleweight division. DeWitt's losses include a seventh-round knockout to Sumbu Kalambay in a World Boxing Association title bout and decision losses to Thomas Hearns and Milton McCrory in non-title bouts. DeWitt won the WBO title with a 12-round decision over Robbie Sims April 18, avenging a 1985 decision loss to Sims. Hilton won the International Boxing Federation junior middleweight title with a 15-round decision over Buster Drayton on June 27, 1987. He lost it in his second defense on a decision to Robert Hines on Nov. 4, 1988, and fought twice in 1989 -- stopping Tim Williams in 10 rounds and battling to a 10-round draw against Fermin Chirino last month. Hilton, a 24-year-old from Montreal, was a substitute for Iran Barkley, who pulled out after eye surgery last month. Mercer dropped Watson twice with right hands in the first round, then knocked him halfway through the ropes with a left hook in the fifth. Referee Tony Orlando gave Watson an eight-count before stopping the bout.