It was Mexico vs. the Philippines Thursday night at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California as Filipino slugger Romero Duno (17-1, 14 KOs) of General Santos City, Philippines and Mexico City's Gilberto Gonzalez (27-5, 22 KOs) squared off on the Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN10-round lightweight main event. Duno attacked from the opening bell as Gonzalez was cut on his left eye. The Filipino continued to put pressure on Gonzalez as he was cut and eyes began to swell in the fourth.
Gonzalez's awkward style switching up his stance and getting inside had Duno pressing at the halfway point. Starting off the sixth trading Duno and Gonzalez stood at close quarters inside trading non-stop in a very exciting round. Duno kept the pressure attacking Gonzalez throughout the remainder of the bout in route to a hard fought decision. Scores were 98-92, 97-93, and 97-93.
Lightweight Raymond Muratalla (1-0) of Fontana made his pro debut with a decision over Benjamin Da Cunha (0-4). All three judges scored the bout 40-36.
Lightweight prospect Oscar Duarte (14-0-1, 9 KOs) of Parral, Chihuahua Mexico won a unanimous decision over Rey Perez (22-10, 6 KOs) in the co-feature bout. Perez landed a huge right hand in the opening round as Duarte took it well, going forward. Duarte kept his composure and boxed patiently landing big punches on Perez. Continuing to pressure at the halfway point Duarte landed big punches as Perez was on the go.
Stalking and landing big punches late in the fight, Duarte continued his attack on Perez. Duarte floored Perez, a pair of times in the eighth with huge left hooks. It was all Duarte as Perez fought to survive the last two rounds as the Mexican prospect worked his way to a unanimous decision. Scores were 99-91, 99-91, and 98-90.
Las Vegas featherweight Francisco Esparza (8-0-1, 3 KOs) who is trained by former world champion Fernando Vargas won a unanimous decision over Edgar Cantu (7-4-2, 1 KO) of in a scheduled eight round bout. Boxing patiently behind the jab Esparza followed up with power shots as he backed Cantu in the opening round. Esparza continued to unload on Cantu in round two. An uppercut by Esparza in round five staggered Cantu as kept backing up, Esparza followed up connecting with a solid body shot in the closing seconds of the fifth. Cantu held his own despite getting tagged with big punches as Esparza cut from his ear and bleeding worked his way to a hard earned unanimous decision victory. All. three judges scored the bout 80-72
In the opening bout super middleweight Jaba Khositashvili (3-0, 2 KO) of Georgia scored a second round knockout over Fabian Valdez (2-3) of Mexico. Valdez was down early from a barrage as Khositashvili attacked, Valdez survived the round. A straight in the second did it as Valdez went down was done referee Jerry Cantu waived the bout at 26 seconds of round two.
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