By Francisco Salazar

Unbeaten welterweight Radzhab Butaev defeated gatekeeper Silverio Ortiz in a stay-busy fight Friday night at the Sands Bethlehem Event Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

The shorter Ortiz utilized his savviness to close the distance and get on the inside, but the stronger Butaev, who is originally from Russia and now resides in Brooklyn, New York, punished Ortiz with several combinations to the head and body.

Scores were 58-55, 58-55, and 59-54 for Butaev, who improves to 12-0, 9 knockouts. Ortiz (37-25, 18 KOs), who resides in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, has lost seven of his last nine bouts.

The 25-year-old Butaev, who is managed by Vadim Kornilov, is ranked No. 5 by the WBA. Butaev is promoted by Lou DiBella.

In the main event, junior lightweight Frank De Alba defeated Ruben Dario Lopez by unanimous decision over eight rounds.

Lopez was the aggressor from the opening bell, swinging wild hooks and crosses that rarely found their mark. The southpaw De Alba, who resides in nearby Reading, effectiving outboxed Lopez for the duration of the fight.

All three judges scored the bout 80-72 in favor of De Alba (23-4-2, 9 KOs), who lost back-to-back bouts last year to O’Shaquie Foster and Andy Vences.

Lopez, who resides Rosario, Argentina, drops to 12-14-4, 5 KOs.

Welterweight Janelson Figueroa Bocachica (14-0, 10 KOs) of Detroit won by technical knockout when veteran Gabor Gorbics did not answer the bell to start the fourth round.

Figueroa battered the normally-durable Gorbics (26-17, 16 KOs), producing blood from the nose in round two. By the end of the third round, Gorbics looked like he did want to continue after being battered by the younger and stronger Figueroa. A ringside physician who checked on Gorbics after the end of the third round made it academic, recommending to referee Eric Dali to stop the fight to save Gorbics further punishment.

Gorbics, who resides in Budapest Hungary, has lost his last five fights.

In a clash of local junior middleweights, Erik Spring overcame a strong challenge by Nicholas Hernandez (9-4-1, 2 KOs) to win a hard-fought unanimous decision.

All three judges scored the bout 77-75 in favor of Spring, who improves to 13-2-1, 1 KO.

The fight card was promoted by Marshall Kauffman.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing