The 23-year-old improved his impressive record to 31-0 in a closer contest than predicted to grind out a 115-113 (twice) win over the Mexican, who earned a 115-113 decision himself from ringside judge Dennis Nelson.
In the co-feature, light-heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara recovered well from his May loss to WBC title-holder Adonis Stevenson by overcoming Doudou Ngumbu through ten rounds to make it 26 wins from 30 contests.
The Pole, who has fought out of Chicago almost his entire career, was too good for Ngumbu on the night and carded 98-92, 97-93 (twice) to push himself up the rankings towards another potential world title shot in the future.
Also, on the bill, Javier Fortuna took care of Abner Cotto via a fifth-round knockout. Headliner Tomoki Kameda’s brother Koki stopped Omar Salado in the fourth to move to 33-1 with an eighteenth career KO.
Elsewhere in Mississippi, ex-heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs notched the 50th early finish of his career by blasting out Richard Carmack in the very first round to keep on track for a shot at one of the champions in the top division.
Briggs, stalking unified titleholder Wladimir Klitschko of late, put Carmack on the floor three times in the one-sided match-up to make it six wins in a row since his return to action, five of which have come in the opening session.
Finally, in Washington, 20-year-old Dusty Hernandez-Harrison scored the 13th stoppage of his career by halting Michael Clark in the first round and is now 24-0 and well on his way to mix it with the world’s best at 147lbs.
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