By Francisco Salazar

If you have not watched a 'Knockout Night at the D' fight card, whether in person at the Downtown Las Vegas Event Center in Las Vegas or on television, you are missing out.

The series throughout 2016 provided upsets, competitive and even fights, and the occasional spectacular knockout.

The latest fight card took place this past Saturday night, where the main event was a 10 round junior bantamweight bout between Aston Palicte and Oscar Cantu.

Palicte (22-2, 18 KOs) won a split decision over Cantu. One judge scored the bout 96-94 for Cantu while the other two judges scored the bout 98-92 and 96-94 in favor of Palicte.

Both had their moments in the fight, but it was the Filipino fighter who seemed to get the better of the exchanges over Cantu (14-1, 1 KO), who entered the bout unbeaten.

In a match-up of junior middleweight prospects, hard-hitting Nathaniel Gallimore (16-1-1, 13 KOs) of Jamaica knocked out Angelo Baez (15-1-1, 11 KOs) of Chile.

Saturday night was another example of the stellar promoting and matchmaking by Roy Jones Jr. and Keith Veltre.

I covered the 'Knockout night at the D' card on November 18, the day before the Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward fight, which took place down the famed Strip at the T-Mobile Arena.

On that fight card, lightweight Demond Brock won a 10 round split decision over Reynaldo Blanco.

Jones and Veltre have provided competitive and even fights for fans in attendance and those watching on CBS Sports Network. Jim Ross, famous for working with WWE, calls the action from ringside.

Earlier this year, upsets have occurred on 'Knockout Night on the D' cards. On May 21, Andrew Hernandez won a 10 round unanimous decision over Arif Magomedov, who was ranked in the top 10 by major sanctioning bodies.

Numerous prospects have been showcased on these fight cards, getting their names out for boxing fans to know. John Vera, Neeco Macias, Randy Moreno, and Jeremy Nichols are just some of the fighters who are unbeaten and have shown promise as legit prospects.

Roy Jones Jr. promoted seven fight cards in 2016 and will likely promote just as many, if not more for 2017.

The formula have promoting evenly-matched fights and showcasing young talent has worked well thus far. Most of the fight cards are sold out, a testament of the popularity these fight cards have had on the local boxing scene.

Coupled that with the D Casino, which is owned by Derek J. Stevens, and their commitment to boxing and the future looks bright for the series.

Whether you are in town for a big fight or visiting Las Vegas, if there is a 'Knockout Night at the D' fight card, check it out. I did and came away impressed.

I will go back again.

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, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing