David Cuellar continues to accumulate wins as a bantamweight.

Cuellar remained unbeaten late Friday night, defeating late-sub and former world title challenger Jose Velazquez by unanimous decision at the Auditorio Municipal in Tijuana, Mexico.

The taller Cuellar imposed his reach and aggression from the opening bell, raining down combinations to the head and body of Velazquez. Late in round two, Velazquez went down to the canvas, but was ruled to be shoved down by Cuellar, who received a warning from referee Fernando Renteria.

Cuellar varied his offense, equally attacking the head and body of Velazquez. As the fight progressed, Cuellar landed with more frequency, but Velazquez was game and fighting back.

Velazquez was successful, at times, by closing the distance and connecting with an occasional hook or cross, but that happened less during the second half of the fight. Cuellar continued to land often, and looked as though he would get a stoppage win during the last two rounds, but Velazquez utilized his ring savviness to counter or clench, at times, to slow Cuellar’s offense.

All three judges scored the bout 99-91 in favor of Cuellar, who improved to 27-0, 17 knockouts.

The 22-year-Cuellar, who resides in Queretaro, Mexico and now campaigns at 118 pounds, was originally scheduled to fight unbeaten Edwin Barrios of Colombia. No reason was given why Barrios turned down or backed out of the fight against Cuellar.

In his previous fight on January 19, Cuellar defeated Pablo Ariel Gomez by decision over 10 one-sided rounds. He is currently trained by Jose ‘Chepo’ Reynoso, who is the longtime co-trainer of Ring super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.

Velazquez, who resides in Quellon, Chile, falls to 32-10-3, 22 KOs. In his previous fight on September 3, Velazquez lost by unanimous decision to Shingo Wake.

The 34-year-old challenged then-unified junior featherweight Murodjon Akhmadaliev in November 2021, losing by unanimous decision. He would lose once in his next five fights leading up to the loss to Wake.

Omar Chavez, the son of Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez, scored a second round knockout win over Michi Muñoz (28-19-1, 19 KOs) of Leon, Mexico. Chavez dropped Munoz to the canvas with a left hook to the head. After Munoz dropped hard to the canvas, the fight was immediately stopped at 47 seconds.

Chavez, who resides in Culiacan, Mexico, goes to 41-8-1, 27 KOs.

The card was co-promoted by Oswaldo Kuchle, Pepe Gomez’s Cancun Boxing and Julio Cesar Chavez Promotions and aired live on Channel 5 Televisa throughout Mexico.

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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