A crossroads bout tops Thursday evening’s edition of Golden Boy Fight Night on DAZN, as resurgent lightweight Carlos Morales (19-4-3, 8KOs) faces former title challenger Mercito Gesta (32-3-2, 17KOs). Their scheduled 10-round bout streams live from the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles, California.
Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Oquendo came up aces in the evening’s chief support, scoring a 10-round shutout of local spoiler Charles Huerta.
Scores were 100-90 across the board for Oquendo, who delivered one of the best performances of his career and with promoter and legendary former four-division champion Miguel Cotto at ringside.
Oquendo was simply the busier fighter throughout the evening, despite Huerta’s determination. The 36-year old junior lightweight established a quick pace, Huerta doing his best to keep up but his own early work causing him to tire out in the second half of the fight.
It was bad news for the local favorite, as Oquendo (31-6, 19KOs) continued to come forward. Huerta sought to work his jab but was repeatedly countered by Oquendon’s quicker and more effective right hand shots. The Puerto Rican veteran also didn’t pardon the body, prompting Huerta to gas and clinch at points in the later rounds where he was unable to clinch.
Not even the motivation from his corner insisting this was the end of his career if he lost was enough to get Huerta (21-7, 12KOs) to turn the tide. It certainly wasn’t enough to slow down Oquendo who scored with overhand rights against his retreating foe. The threat of a knockout surfaced late in the night, in large part to Huerta’s fatigue and being trapped against the ropes. Oquendo couldn’t close the show, but sealed a dominant performance in rebounding from a hard-fought loss to Lamont Roach Jr. this past May.
In the opening attraction, Travell Mazion remained unbeaten following a 10-round points win over Mexico City’s Diego Cruz (19-8-2, 15KOs) in their junior middleweight contest.
Scores were 99-90 twice and 98-91 in favor of Mazion, a rising prospect from Austin, Texas.
The bout was more competitive than suggested in the final scores, even if the fight was accurately judged, Mazion boxed well throughout the contest but also struggled with the natural aggression of Cruz, who often landed the cleaner and harder blows, but just not enough to make an impact with the judges.
No knockdowns were scored in the contest, but Mazion was deducted one point in round seven for excessive low blows. Cruz continued to press the action, with Mazion (16-0, 12KOs) standing his ground in the later rounds and willing trade more often, perhaps unnecessarily at times given his early lead. The tactic changed in the 10th and final round, with the unbeaten Texan keeping his distance while Cruz charged forward in hopes of landing a game-changing punch.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
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