Mexican debutant Juan Carlos Guerito defeated Barker Ssewanyana, from Uganda, who came into the ring with a 1-1-1 record, to open up the card at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Guerito came out aggressively, throwing big shots up and down and, in particular, was looking to land the left to the body. Ssewanyana had a point deducted for holding in the fourth as Guerito swept the scorecards 40-35.

Syria-born Sultan “El Nino” Almohammed, fighting out of Saudi Arabia, made India’s Umesh Chavan turn his back in the first round, and that caused their fight to be waved off. Chavan, who moved to 3-2-1, protested once the damage had been done but Almohammed came out blasting and hurt Chavan to the body near the end and he was not allowed to continue. Almohammed improves to 2-0 (1 KO).

Undefeated Mexican super middleweight Julio Porras Ruiz suffered the first blemish on his record as he fell to 13-0-1 (9 KOs) against Tanzania’s 11-4-2 (5 KOs) Pius Mpenda. 

The taller Ruiz, towering over his opponent, looked to get his jab going early but he got caught with several big shots and failed to dazzle before the 57-57 draw was announced.

Saudi star Mohammed Alakel got his right hand going early against China’s 34-year-old Jiaming Li when landing crisp shots in the first round. It was one-sided, and Alakel had a lot of success with his jab as the fight wore on.

Li stayed out of excessive danger by employing a high guard and throwing only sparingly as the Abel Sanchez-trained Alakel helped himself to the shots he wanted but the angry Sanchez told him he wanted more work from him.

A quick right caused Li to momentarily touch down in the fifth. He protested it was a slip but he walked on to the shot and there was no debate.

Li tried to fight fire with fire as the clock ran down but Alakel, who won by scores of 60-53 across the board, was too good in every department. Alakel moves to 7-0 (1 KO); Li slips to 7-6 (4 KOs).

The four fights served as the preliminary contests ahead of the Night of Champions Ring 4 show that fetures Sam Noakes taking on Abdullah Mason, Jesse Rodriguez box Fernando Martinez, Devin Haney challenge Brian Norman, and Anthony Yarde tackle David Benavidez.