Williams, Mendoza Fight for Junior Middleweight Title

Twenty-year-old Dwain Williams of Los Angeles will fight Tito Mendoza of Panama tonight at the Arrowhead Pond for the North American Boxing Organization’s junior middleweight title. The 12-round main event between Williams (15-2, 11 knockouts) and Mendoza (14-2, 12 knockouts) is for the title that San Diego’s Rodney Jones vacated so he can fight for the World Boxing Organization title against Harry Simon.

Three months ago at the Pond, Williams won a unanimous 10-round decision over Luis Vazquez. In October at the Great Western Forum, Williams, a National Golden Gloves champion in 1996, avenged one of his defeats with a split-decision victory over Eric Mitchell. Mendoza, 22, has never gone more than seven rounds but he has won four of his last five fights by knockout.

In the semi-main event, bantamweight Rafael Marquez (15-1, 14 knockouts) of Mexico City faces Guadalupe Gastelum of Culiacan, Mexico (15-4-2, 12 knockouts). The undercard begins at 7:15, the main event at 9.