Another fight, another victory for Jose Salas.

Now fighting at 118 pounds, Salas won a hard-fought unanimous decision over Luis Guzman Friday night at the Auditorio Municipal in Salas’ hometown of Tijuana, Mexico. Scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 98-92 for Salas, who improved to 15-0, 10 knockouts.

Salas thought he scored a knockdown in the opening round, sending Guzman against the ropes, which broke his fall. Replays showed a punch did land, but no knockdown was called.

Throughout most of the fight, Salas displayed speed and pedigree, outboxing Guzman, who was able to land his share of punches. The southpaw Salas began to consistently land with the left hand to the head of Guzman in round four. Salas continued to outbox Guzman during the middle rounds, connecting as both exchanged punches and combinations in the pocket.

Guzman had his best moments during the seventh round, connecting to the head of Salas, who took the punches well. Salas shifted momentum his way in round eight, now landing more uppercuts to the head of Guzman.

Both fighters had their moments during the final two rounds, exchanging combinations that brought cheers from the crowd. Guzman was the aggressor, but Salas did land the more-telling punches.

The 22-year-old previously fought on October 20, also at the Auditorio Municipal, Salas scoring a one-sided victory over gatekeeper Florentino Perez Hernandez. On July 29, which took place on the undercard of the Terence Crawford-Errol Spence undisputed welterweight championship fight, Salas stopped former world title challenger Aston Palicte in the fourth round.

All three fights Salas fought in 2023 were as a junior featherweight.

Guzman (now 11-4, 6 KOs) previously fought on March 2 in his hometown of Villahermosa, Mexico, defeating Oscar Gomez Lopez by unanimous decision. The win over Gomez took place over five months after losing a one-sided decision to top junior featherweight prospect Tenshin Nasukawa.

In the co-feature, welterweight Abel Ramos broke down Juan Ramon Guzman, stopping him in round five. Ramos, who resides in Casa Grande, Arizona, improved to 28-6-2, 22 KOs.

Guzman was game, but it was all Ramos as he outboxed Guzman throughout most of the fight. Ramos dropped Guzman twice during the fifth round, prompting a stoppage by the referee to save Guzman from receiving further punishment.

The 32-year-old Ramos, who is the uncle of junior middleweight contender Jesus Ramos, had not since March 25 of last year, losing by unanimous decision to Cody Crowley. Prior to the loss to Crowley, in February 2022, Ramos lost by unanimous decision to Luke Santamaria.

In recent fights, Ramos was victorious over Francisco Santana and Omar Figueroa, Jr. In February 2020, Ramos knocked out Bryant Perrella at 2:59 of the final round. Ramos was down on all three judges’ scorecards (88-83, 88-83, and 87-84) at the time of the stoppage.

Guzman falls to 17-3-1, 13 KOs. He had won his previous five fights, all by knockout and all in his hometown of nearby Rosarito.

In an all-action female featherweight fight, Alejandra Guzman of Ciudad Obregon, Mexico defeated Mexico City’s Karina Travieso (5-4-1) by unanimous decision. Scores were 77-75, 77-75, and 78-74 for Guzman, who improved to 14-3-2, 7 KOs.

Junior welterweight prospect Alejandro Aguilera of Tijuana dropped Mexicali’s Alexander Rico (7-4-1, 2 KOs) three times en route to a one-sided decision victory. Scores were 59-53, 59-53, and 60-52 for Aguilera, who improved to 9-0-1, 2 KOs.

In the opening bout of the BXSTRS/Alto Boxing card, lightweight Kevin Piedrahita stopped Johan Rodriguez (4-2) of Torreon, Mexico in the third round. Piedrahita, who is originally from Pereira, Colombia and now resides in Celaya, Mexico, improved to 9-1, 8 KOs.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

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