By Jake Donovan

The March 2 lightweight tilt between Richard Abril and Sharif Bogere didn’t feature a lot of clean action amidst a 12-round maul fest, but both fighters at least produced clean drug test results.

All of the fighters who appeared on the seven-fight card at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas were tested for steroids and drugs. All 14 fighters tested negative, which means all results stand.

Abril (18-3-1, 8KO) defended his upgraded lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Bogere in the evening’s main event. The lack of sustained action made for a difficult viewing experience among the 1,448 in attendance, which drew a live gate of $116,250. 

The bout was first official defense of his alphabet belt. Abril entered the promotion as an interim titlist – a status he maintained even after last April’s loss to Brandon Rios due to Rios’ failure to make weight – but received a last minute upgrade to full titlist.

The defense marked his first fight since the aforementioned loss to Rios and his first win since scoring a unanimous decision over former titlist Miguel Acosta in Oct. ’11.

Bogere (23-1, 15KO) suffered his first loss in what also served as his first crack at a major title. The Ugandan export – now based out of Vegas – hadn’t fought since last June, with this particular fight postponed and also relocated.

The co-feature battle wasn’t much better, as Gary Russell fought through an injury to pitch a 10-round shutout over Vyacheslav Gusev.

Both bouts aired live on Showtime.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board, Yahoo Boxing Ratings Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox