RENO - Joey Gilbert controlled most of the action on his own Reno After Dark crowd to win another crown in front of a supportive crowd of 1,850 on Saturday at the Reno Events Center.
Gilbert knocked out Juan Astorga of Lees Summit, Mo., in the 10th round to defend his WBA (NABO) middleweight crown and added the WBC (USNBC) middleweight title in the process. The first two rounds were even, but then Gilbert controlled the rest of the fight, clearly winning every round after that.
Gilbert was the aggressor, using a stiff left jab to control the action. Gilbert also opened a cut alongside Astorga's nose in the third round.
Astorga showed a lot of heart and took a lot of punches from Gilbert, who improved to 15-1 with 11 knockouts. Gilbert knocked Astorga down in the ninth round and the fight was stopped after Gilbert knocked him down again in the 10th round.
In other fights, Derek Hinkey of McDermitt improved to 2-0 with two knockouts when he knocked out Cedric Howard of Pensacola, Fla., in the second round of a middleweight bout.
In a four-round bout, heavyweights Andreas Spang and Aluaro Morales, both of Las Vegas, fought to a draw. In a four-round fight, Lester Perez of Cuba knocked out Bradley Wooter of Enid, Okla., in the third round.
And in an eight-round superflyweight bout, Nonito Donaire of San Leandro, Calif., knocked out Kevin Hodgins of Pensacolo in the first round.