ONTARIO, Calif. – Daniel Roman is beginning to turn heads in the junior featherweight division.

A world ranking, a regional title belt, and winning nine fights in a row will do that.

Roman defeated Erik Ruiz by unanimous decision over 10 rounds before a partisan crowd at the Doubletree Hotel Events Center.

With the win, Roman improves to 16-2-1, 5 knockouts. Ruiz, who hails from the fighting town of Oxnard, drops to 14-4, 6 KOs.

Roman won the NABA junior featherweight title in his last bout on Jul. 24, defeating Daniel Noriega by unanimous decision. The NABA title propelling Roman to a No. 15 ranking by the WBA.

While Ruiz seemed to win the opening round, he had to deal with a bloody nose that appeared in that stanza, courtesy of a punch from Roman during an exchange.

Roman controlled the action through the first half of the fight, beating Ruiz to the punch during most exchanges.

Sensing he was down in the fight, Ruiz, who is trained by Robert Garcia, came on in the sixth and seventh rounds. He found success initiating exchanges and walking Roman down. The rally was short-lived as his punch output dropped, allowing Roman to finish strong in the final two stanzas.

All three judges scored the bout in favor of Roman, 99-91, 99-91, and 98-92.

Santillan remains unbeaten

Welterweight prospect Giovani Santillan won an eight round majority decision over Ernesto Ortiz.

With the win, Santillan goes to 17-0, 9 KOs, while Ortiz drops to 10-3, 7 KOs.

The southpaw Santillan jumped out to an early lead after the first two rounds, beating Ortiz to the punch with left crosses to the head.

Ortiz seemed to gain steam and confidence in the third round. He was able to get on the inside of Santillan’s guard, landing repeatedly with straight right hands to the head. The resulting punches drew blood from Santillan’s nose and in the fourth round, a right to the head seemed to stun Santillan.

Both fighters unloaded vicious punches during the sixth round. While one fighter landed hooks and counter to the head, the other followed up with his own punches to the head.

Santillan took the final two rounds. Ortiz slowed considerably in the final two rounds, allowing Santillan to land repeatedly to the head and body.

One judge scored the bout 76-76, while the other two judges scored the bout 78-74 and 80-72 in favor of Santillan.

In other bouts:

– Jose Haro (11-1-1, 6 KOs) won an eight round unanimous decision over Juan Reyes (12-3-3, 2 KOs) in a junior lightweight bout. All three judges scored the bout 79-73 in favor of Haro.

– In junior lightweight action, Erick Ituarte (12-1-1, 2 KOs) won a six round unanimous decision over Angel Martinez (6-2-1, 2 KOs). Ituarte dropped Martinez at the end of round five. All three judges scored the bout 60-53, 60-53, and 59-54 for Ituarte.

– Lightweight Manuel Mendez (6-1-1, 3 KOs) stopped 2012 Olympian Cesar Villarraga (8-1, 4 KOs) of Colombia in the third round. Referee Raul Caiz Sr. waved the fight at 2:25.

– In the opening bout of the Thompson Boxing card, heavyweight Dakota Walker won his pro debut, decisioning Edgar Najera (0-5) by unanimous decision. All three judges scored the bout 40-36 in favor of Walker.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing