CALABASAS, CALIFORNIA-In a California showdown, Maywood’s Lissette Medel and Oxnard’s Crystal Morales clashed once again at the Sagebrush Cantina on Tuesday.

Medal (2-0) won by majority decision in a tight battle decided by Morales’s faulty protection and inappropriate blouse in a four round fight.

After a slow opening round that saw Morales nail occasional left hook counters, the next round was an eye-opener as both unleashed several combinations. During one of the combinations Morales chest protector slipped over her halter-top and forced her to attempt to fix the situation while Medal fired blows. The Maywood boxer offered no mercy.

“I didn’t want to give them a free show,” said Morales (4-4-1) who pushed her top back into position as Medal landed several punches. “There was nothing else I could do.”

The next two rounds were close as Medel, who won their first encounter back on

Sept. 30, 2005, resorted to attacking the body with hard rights. Morales used her left jab and left hook counters.

In the first fight Morales came with both barrels blazing and ran into a lot of Medel’s counter shots. But their second fight was different.

“Last time she came right at me,” said Medel, who has an extensive amateur background. “I figured she would do the same thing but she waited for me to do something. It threw me off my plan.”

The new attack plan by Morales was conceived before the fight.

“She’s a counter-puncher so I wanted to do something different,” said Morales, 19, who did not have an amateur career and is trained by Robert Garcia, a former world champion.

Like an old time gunfight the two California junior lightweights can’t find opponents so they’re fighting each other.

“It’s real hard for me to find any fights,” said Medel who only has two pro fights and both against Morales.

The final round saw both fighters open up their arsenal but once again Morales lost her chest protector and was partially nude. Concerned about exposing herself, she opted to fix her malfunctioning equipment and was tagged cleanly by Medel who did not give her a break. The referee stopped the fight though much more time was left in the round. He decided to go to the scorecards.

Morales has been improving immensely under Garcia’s tutelage. In her brief pro career that started a year ago, the pretty, dark skinned boxer has already engaged in nine fights.

“I’d like to fight her again,” said Morales who lost 38-38, 40-36 twice according to the judges. WBAN had the fight 39-37 for Medal.

If not for the two equipment failures, Morales might have won.

“I thought my jab was working for me,” Morales said.