By Mark Vester

At Arena Itson in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico, Nehomar Cermeno (19-0, 11KOs) stopped Alejandro Valdez (22-4-2, 16KOs) in the eleventh round to retain the interim-WBA bantamweight title.

They came out boxing at a cautious pace. There was a bad clash of heads that opened up a bad cut above the right eye of Valdez. The two boxers started fighting more as Valdez took the fight to Cermeno. In the second round, a left hand by Cermeno sent Valdez down. Cermeno took the fight to Valdez and started landing punches on the bad cut. There was another flash knockdown a moment later as Valdez was on the move and went down to a knee. They were brawling in the final twenty seconds. Valdez did better in the third but Cermeno still outworked him.

They started trading some good shots in the fourth. The Mexican crowd was trying to push Valdez to pick up the pace. Valdez was landing some very good left hands but Cermeno answered back with combinations. They continued a very entertaining brawl in the fifth round. Both guys had their moments with a hot crowd chanting "Mexico" during the action. During the sixth, there was another clash of heads that opened up a cut under the right eye of Valdez. Valdez was pushing forward and taking the fight to Cermeno during most of the round. Cermeno gave Valdez a boxing lesson in the seventh round. He was moving around the ring and tagging a following Valdez. The same type of tactic was used in the eight round. Valdez was not able to catch up to Cermeno who was always on the move and picking his spots.

Vadlez was doing better in the ninth. He was able to finally start landing some good punches in the final minute when Cermeno stopped moving to trade shots. Valdez still tried to go after Cermeno in the tenth. The round was close with Cermeno doing the better boxing. During the eleventh, Cermeno lost a point for what appeared to be a minor knee/low blow on Valdez. During the closing moments, Cermeno landed a right hand combination that sent Valdez down hard. He barely made it up and the ref stopped the fight.