HANOVER, Md. – Rene Palacios had his coming-out party Friday at Maryland Live Casino, taking a big step up in level of opposition and boxing skillfully en route to a split decision over fringe featherweight contender Sulaiman Segawa.

One judge had it 96-94 for Segawa, overruled by 99-91 and 97-93 scores for Palacios.

Palacios, a 24-year-old from Mexico, had flown under the radar while developing. He wasn’t widely known among boxing fans, and even the footage of his past fights wasn’t easily available. Not that there would be a good comparison given the men he had beaten. Recent wins had come against foes with records of 20-10-1, 9-9 and 20-8-2.

Yet when the bell rang against Segawa, Palacios showed plenty of ring presence and skill. He was comfortable fighting inside – boxing, not merely slugging away. Rather, Palacios exhibited impressive head and body movement. He was comfortable in close quarters with his gloves down, dodging shots and then lacing them back in return, and utilizing his shoulder to shove Segawa backward.

Segawa is also better than his record – 18-5-1 coming in – would otherwise indicate. He had lost a debatable majority decision to Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington in 2024 and bounced back last September with a TKO of Bryan Acosta, whose only other loss had come to junior featherweight Ramon Cardenas.

Segawa continued to work and look for openings. Palacios wasn’t necessarily a puzzle to figure out so much as a safe to force open, even if you didn’t have the right combinations. And as skilled as Palacios was, Segawa was still able to raise swelling underneath his left eye.

As the fight reached its close in the ninth and 10th rounds, the two men began to trade more from close range. Whether intentional or coincidental, Palacios showed that he could entertain both offensively and defensively. And he won’t be flying under the radar anymore. He moved to 19-0-1 (10 KOs) and now enters the mix at 126lbs.

For Segawa, meanwhile, this is a setback. The 34-year-old Maryland resident is now 18-6-1 (7 KOs). He will surely fall in the rankings, if not drop from them outright. Segawa has lost before and rebuilt from those defeats. After the Carrington loss, he had taken a few steps back and one step forward. This pushes him even farther back in the game.

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.