By Francisco Salazar
Junior welterweight Gloferson Ortizo won a hard-fought six round split decision over Mario Esparza late Thursday night at the Exchange LA in Los Angeles.
One judge scored the bout 58-56 for Esparza, while the other two judges scored the bout 58-56 for Ortizo, who improves to 13-1-1, 6 knockouts.
It was Ortizo's first fight since suffering his first loss as a pro to Abraham Lopez on Aug. 8 in nearby Hollywood. Ortizo is originally from the Philippines and now resides in the Los Angeles suburb of Tustin.
Esparza, who resides in Phoenix, drops to 4-1-1, 2 KOs.
Featherweight Adan Ochoa knocked out James Thomas (6-4, 6 KOs) in the third round. Referee Raul Caiz, Sr. counted Thomas out at 2:05.
Ochoa has now won his last five bouts and improves to 7-1, 4 KOs.
Welterweight Damien Lopez (7-0-1, 5 KOs) knocked out India's Siddharth Ravindra Varna at 2:18 of the fourth round. Varna drops to 4-2-1, 1 KO.
Junior middleweight Brandyn Lynch dropped Tavorus Teague (6-22-4, 3 KOs) once en route to a six round unanimous decision victory. All three judges scored the bout 60-53 in favor of Lynch, who improves to 7-1, 5 KOs.
Lynch is the nephew of actor-director Eddie Murphy.
Lightweight Ruben Campos knocked out Thomas Herrera (11-21-1, 8 KOs) at 2:27 of the opening round to improve to 5-0, 4 KOs.
Bash Boxing and PR Promotions co-promoted the card.
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