Junior flyweight Erik Badillo has secured a title shot.
Badillo won a 10-round unanimous decision over Gerardo Zapata on Saturday at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. Scores were 98-91, 98-91 and 97-92.
Badillo, a 29-year-old from Mexico, dropped the 30-year-old Zapata with a straight left hand in the third round. In the fifth, Badillo began to have success throwing good combinations on the inside. Badillo displays all aspects of his ability, fighting at range and on the inside. By the eighth round, the Fresno crowd cheered loudly for Badillo as if he were from the region. Badillo continued to connect at high volume, but he was unable to land an eye-catching shot to earn a referee stoppage. Zapata has never been stopped in his career.
Badillo improved to 18-0 (8 KOs). Zapata showed his toughness but dipped to 15-3-1 (5 KOs).
With the win, Badillo will now face the winner of a rematch between WBC junior flyweight titleholder Panya Pradabsri and Carlos Canizales.
Junior lightweight contender Tsendbaatar Erdenebat, a Mongolian training out of Paramount, California, was tested but won a 10-round unanimous decision over Tijuana, Mexico’s Humberto Gallindo. Scores were 97-93, 98-92 and 99-91.
In the early rounds, Erdenebat displayed a high boxing IQ while Galindo’s thunderous right hand made him a live wire. Erdenebat began to target the body heavily in the fourth round. They exchanged hard shots to end Round 6, and the action continued into the seventh with Galindo and Erdenbat continuing to trade power shots. In the 10th, Erdenbat finished the fight strong with a solid body attack.
Erdenbat, 28, improved to 13-0 (6 KOs), and despite a valiant effort, Galindo, 25, fell to 14-4-1 (11 KOs).
Bantamweight Katsuma Akitsugi, of Los Angeles, won a 10-round unanimous decision over former title contender Jonas Sultan. Scores were 99-91, 99-91 and 98-92.
Akitsugi, 27, improved to 13-0 (3 KOs), while Sultan, a 33-year-old veteran from Tampilisan, Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines, is now 19-8 (11 KOs) and on a two-fight losing streak.
In the television opener on ProBox TV, 2016 U.S. Olympian Karlos Balderas, of Santa Maria, California, earned a stunning eight-round knockout of Salvador Briceno, a native of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, who trains in nearby Roseville, California. The stoppage time was 1 minute, 3 seconds. A left hook followed by a right hand from Balderas floored Briceno, who was unable to answer the referee’s count.
Balderas, 28, improved to 16-2 (14 KOs). Briceno dropped to 18-12-1 (11 KOs).
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
