By Francisco Salazar

In a battle between junior featherweights who reside in the Phoenix area, Carlos Castro remained unbeaten and claimed city bragging rights.

Castro stopped former fringe contender Alexis Santiago in round 10 Saturday night at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona.

After a cautious opening few rounds, the action opened up in round three. Castro (20-0, 9 knockouts) took the initiative, ripping combinations to the head and body as Santiago looked to counter. Santiago snuck a hard counter right to the head of Castro at the end of round three.

By the middle rounds, both fighters were fighting on the inside, looking to load up and land one-two punch combinations.

The pace of the fight slowed during the second half of the fight. Santiago walked Castro down during the final two rounds, but would get caught with several combinations to the head. A series of combinations to the head by Castro forced Santiago’s corner to throw in the towel in round 10, prompting referee Wes Melton to stop the fight at 1:50.

Santiago (21-6-1, 8 KOs) has now lost his last three fights.

Featherweight Francisco De Vaca knocked out former world title challenger Christian Esquivel in the sixth round.

The taller De Vaca (18-0, 6 KOs) broke Esquivel down with each passing round, raining punches down onto Esquivel. As the bout progressed, De Vaca ripped left hooks to the body of Esquivel.

It was a left hook to the body in round six that forced Esquivel to take a knee. Referee Wes Melton counted Esquivel (30-13-1, 23 KOs) out at 1:59.

Super middleweight James McGirt (27-3-1 14 KOs) stopped Gilberto Rubio (8-7, 6 KOs) at 2:40 of the second round.

In junior featherweight action, Joshua Greer, Jr. knocked out Basilio Nieves (15-6, 3 KOs) at 1:11 of the third round. Greer improves to 16-1-1, 8 KOs.

Light heavyweight Fidel Hernandez (18-4, 10 KOs) won a one-sided decision over Cesar Barraza (3-1-1). Scores were 60-54, 60-54, and 59-55 for Hernandez, who will turn 41 years of age on Aug. 22.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since October 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.com, and FightNights.com. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com and on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing