By Francisco Salazar

Junior lightweight Charles Huerta held off a late rally by Miguel Angel Gonzalez to win an eight round split decision at the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles.

Huerta improves to 20-5, with 12 KOs, while Gonzalez falls to 21-3, with 18 KOs.

Huerta was the busier fighter early on, mixing his attack from the head and body of Gonzalez. Undaunted, Gonzalez pressed the action during the middle rounds, focusing his attack to the Huerta's body.

Both fighters had their moments in the second half of the fight, which ended abruptly at 32 seconds of the eighth round opened a cut above Huerta's hairline.

Because the fight was stopped by an accidental clash of heads that produced a cut, the bout went to the scorecards. One judge scored the bout 78-75 in favor of Gonzalez, while the other two judges scored the bout 78-75 and 77-76 for Huerta, who resides in the Los Angeles suburb of Paramount.

Gonzalez's five-bout winning streak was snapped.

Lightweight Christian 'Chimpa' Gonzalez (17-1, with 15 KOs) battered Daniel Perales, dropping him and ending matters in the third round. Perales (10-11-1, with 5 KOs) attempted to trade with Gonzalez, but did not have the firepower to compete with Gonzalez. A barrage of punches by Gonzalez dropped Perales to one knee, where he was counted out by referee Wayne Hedgpeth at 1:14.

Unbeaten featherweight Francisco Esparza was held to a majority decision draw against Fernando Fuentes (13-7-1 1 NC, with 4 KOs). One judge scored the bout 58-56 for Esparza, while the other two judges scored the bout 57-57. Esparza, who is trained by Fernando Vargas, goes to 6-0-1, with 2 KOs.

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