Joan Guzman scored a unanimous points decision over Humberto Soto to retain his WBO junior-welterweight title and maintain his undefeated record.
Unanimous points decision gives Guzman second successful defence.
Joan Guzman scored a unanimous points decision over Humberto Soto to retain his WBO junior-welterweight title and maintain his undefeated record.
Guzman recorded the 28th victory of his unblemished career at the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa in Atlantic City.
After a frenetic 12 rounds of all-action boxing, all three of the ringside judges gave Guzman the nod, with judges Lynne Carter and Jean Williams both favouring the champion at 117-111, while Don Trella had it 118-110.
Dominican Republic fighter Guzman had to battle hard in his second title defence, as Soto piled on the pressure right from the very start.
Guzman had damage underneath both eyes as Mexican Soto kept on coming forward relentlessly aiming to add to the 15 knockouts he has recorded in his 20 straight wins heading into the fight.
Soto was the main attacker in the fight, but Guzman combined elusively quick movement with good hand speed in attack to keep out of Soto's way and also score with some good shots of his own.
Guzman had cuts to deal with from the third round onwards, but it did not bother him as he continued to frustrate Soto, who showed why he is also highly rated as he never let his pace drop throughout the fight.
Elusive
Soto could not find the single clean shot that might have shaken Guzman enough to take charge of the fight, despite pushing the champion back onto the ropes a number of times.
In the end the champion's quick hands gave him the contest, and he admitted that he was expecting a battle when he stepped into the ring.
"I figured it would be a rough fight and it was," Guzman said through a translator.
"He's a very strong fighter, but once we got into the ring, I felt like I took him out of his game plan."
Soto was not happy with the decision, saying that he should have won the fight as he was the aggressor throughout.
"I know I did enough to win," Soto said through a translator.
"You win fights by throwing punches and not by running. I think the judges were a little swayed by all the yelling for him."
