PECHANGA INDIAN RESERVATION -- Nate Campbell may never want to fight again at Pechanga Resort & Casino.
The boxer was handed his first loss here in January 2003, and he went down hard in his return Sunday.
Campbell was pummeling Robbie Peden in the fifth round of their IBF junior lightweight title elimination bout when he inexplicably dropped his hands. Peden happily accepted the gift and tagged Campbell with a left jab, then landed a left uppercut solidly on Campbell's jaw and sent him to the canvas.
Campbell couldn't get up before the referee's 10 count and took his second professional loss at 2:27 of the round.
"The first shot I hurt him," Peden said. "The second shot put him to sleep. I just took the opportunity and let it go. You should protect yourself at all times. He just stood there, so I hit him."
Peden (23-2, 13 KOs) said he didn't think he did anything to make Campbell (24-2-1, 21 KOs) drop the gloves.
"We were just fighting," the Australian said. "It was one of those things. I think he thought he hurt me, and he stepped back looking at his work. I said OK. He gave me a free shot, and I took it."
After the fight, Campbell said the loss was his fault, but he added that he thought the ref stopped the fight prematurely.
"I put my hands down," said Campbell, a Jacksonville, Fla., native. "I wanted to draw him in. I thought he was going to throw another right hand, but he threw a left hook this time.
"I was OK. As God is my witness, I was OK. I stood straight up. I didn't stumble. He said it was over, and I said I was OK. All I heard was eight, nine, and I was up."
Peden moved well and dominated in the first two rounds. But Campbell slowed Peden by working the body in the third and fourth rounds.
Midway through the fifth round, Campbell hurt Peden with another solid body blow, then landed a succession of punches. Peden appeared ready to go down, but stayed on his feet, until Campbell's mistake opened the door for him.
"He caught me with one in that last round that really hurt," Peden said. "I turned away and I sucked it up. You can't go down. You can't quit in boxing."
With the win, Peden rose from the IBF's No. 7 contender ranking to No. 1. He now hopes to get a shot at title holder Carlos Hernandez.
"I think I'm ready," Peden said. "I've had some really tough fights. I've fought a lot of top-10 fighters, and things haven't gone my way a few times. Now, I finally got a break. This is my third IBF elimination bout. The third time's the treat. I love it."
In the co-main event, Keith Holmes (38-3, 24 KOs) stopped Kuvanych Toygonbayev (23-2, 15 KOs) in a majority decision, 94-94, 95-93, 95-93, in their 10-round junior middleweight bout.
In preliminary action, Malcolm Tann (9-1, 5 KOs) knocked out Wesley Martin (15-44-8, 8 KOs) at 2:50 of the first round, and the scheduled eight-round featherweight bout between Robert Guerrero (11-0-1, 4 KOs) and Julian Rodriguez (13-9-2, 7 KOs) ended in a technical draw at 1:17 of the first round after Rodriguez took a blow to the back of the head and then a kidney shot as the referee stepped between the fighters. Rodriguez was carried out of the ring on a backboard.
In the swing bouts fought after the main event, Stephanie Dobbs (10-13-2, 5 KOs) won a majority decision over Nina Ahlin (10-5-1, 3 KOs), 57-57, 58-56, 59-58; and Francisco Urrabaza, making his professional debut, knocked out Guillermo Valdez (1-1, 1 KO).
