By Francisco Salazar

Middleweight Raquel Miller remained unbeaten Saturday night, knocking out Erin Toughill in round seven at the Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens, California.

With the victory, the 34-year-old Miller (9-0, 4 KOs), who resides in San Francisco, won a regional title belt.

Miller was coming off a split-decision victory over Ashleigh Curry in her last bout on Feb. 28 in Dallas. The 41-year-old Toughill, who resides in nearby Huntington Beach, was coming off a close decision loss to Maricela Cornejo on Jan. 27.

Within the first 15 seconds of the opening bell, Miller, who is promoted by Lou DiBella, dropped Toughill with a right-left combination to the head. Toughill was not visibly hurt and fought on after getting up from the canvas.

As the bout progressed into the middle rounds, and sensing she was down on the scorecards, Toughill closed the distance between the two and letting her hands go. Her best round was the fourth when she was able to connect with more hooks and crosses. The rally was short-lived as Miller was able to use her pedigree and punching accuracy to keep Toughill on the defensive.

The end came in round seven as a short left hook from Miller to the chin dropped Toughill to the canvas. Toughill was able to beat the count, but referee Zachary Young waved the fight off at 1:01.

Toughill falls to 7-5-1 and has lost four of her last five bouts dating back to her 2005 knockout loss to Laila Ali.

Middleweight Jonathan Esquivel of Anaheim stopped veteran Tavorus Teague (6-27-4, 3 KOs) from nearby Paramount at 2:11 of the fourth round. The 24-year-old Esquivel goes to 10-0, 9 KOs.

Super middleweight Kenneth Quach (0-1-1) fought to a unanimous decision draw against 39-year-old Juan Cisneros, who was making his pro debut. All three judges scored the bout 38-38.

The ‘Gardens Casino Fight Night’ card was promoted by longtime Southern California promoter Roy Englebrecht.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing