Barkley Pounds Coetzee In Match Of Former Champs Ex-Welterweight Star Palomino Also Stops His Opponent On Card Featuring Old Fighters

Iran Barkley stopped Gerrie Coetzee at 2:07 of the 10th round Sunday night in a slugfest between the two aging former champions at Los Angeles.

Barkley, 37, floored by Coetzee in the second round, hammered the 41-year-old South African with a left hook in the 10th, prompting the referee to stop the bout.

Barkley, 41-12 with 25 knockouts, is a former champion in the middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. Coetzee, 33-6-1 with 21 knockouts, held the WBA heavyweight title in the late 1970s.

In another bout at the Hollywood Palladium, former welterweight champion Carlos Palomino stopped Rene Arredondo 1:37 into the first round.

At Sacramento, Calif., Nigerian Ike Ibeabuchi took the World Boxing Council Intercontinental heavyweight title in a unanimous decision from seventh-ranked David Tua of New Zealand Saturday night.

Judge Rudy Jordan scored the 12-round fight 116-113; Hank Elespur 115-114; and Dick Young 117-111 all for Ibeabuchi, who is unbeaten in 17 fights. It was Tua’s first loss after 27 victories.

In a 10-round junior middleweight fight, former WBC welterweight champion Jose Luis Lopez won in a majority decision over former WBA champion Aaron Davis.