LOS ANGELES – In a must-win bout between fringe lightweight contenders, Diego Magdaleno was able to grind out a 10-round unanimous decision over Art Hovhannisyan before a sold-out and boisterous crowd at the Belasco Theatreto on Friday.

With the win, Magdaleno improves to 29-2, 12 knockouts, and gets back into the world title hunt. Hovhannisyan, who was born in Armenia and resides in nearby Glendale, drops to 17-3-3, 9 KOs.

Magdaleno, who resides in Las Vegas, had not fought since October 10 of last year when he was stopped in the second round by WBO lightweight titleholder Terry Flanagan.

Hovhannisyan fought to a draw against Fidel Maldonado in his last bout on May 20.

Magdaleno began to land the more-effective punches in the third round. The southpaw fighter was able to score repeatedly with short right hooks to the head of Hovahannisyan.

Both fighters stood in the pocket, but Magdaleno was able to to win rounds by initiating exchanges and landing left hands to the head.

The pace slowed in the second half of the fight as both fighters showed the effects of the very competitive fight, but was sloppy at times.

Hovhannisyan worked from the center of the ring while Magdaleno looked to counter off the ropes.

All three judges scored the bout 99-91 in favor of Magdaleno.

Lightweight prospect Damon Allen and gatekeeper Luis Arceo fought to a unanimous draw over eight competitive rounds.

Arceo (28-15-5, 19 KOs) was Allen’s most challenging opponent to date, both in the ring and on paper. Arceo entered the ring Friday night with almost five times as many fights as Allen, but the Philadelphia fighter was able to handle himself well.

Allen (10-0-1, 4 KOs) controlled the opening round, but found himself exchanging combinations in the middle of the ring with Arceo.

As the bout entered the middle rounds, Allen began to find his timing, landing lead and counter right hands to the head of Arceo.

Allen began to sit down on his punches by the fifth round. Allen would get sucked into exchanges again with Arceo, who pressed the action during the second half of the fight, while Allen looked to counter with right hands from the outside.

All three judges scored the bout even 76-76.

Super middleweight Maricela Cornejo (5-2, 2 KOs) won a six round unanimous decision over Eliza Olson.

Cornejo improves to 5-2, 2 KOs, while Olson falls to 9-7-3, 2 KOs.

Olson was the aggressor throughout most of the fight, bulling her way forward and connecting with an occasional left or right to the head. But Cornejo was able to pepper Olson with repeated jabs to the head, following those up with right hands to the head.

All three judges scored the bout in favor of Cornejo, 58-56 58-56, and 59-55.

In other bouts:
Lightweight Joseph Aguirre (15-0, 9 KOs) broke Roberto Rivera (6-3, 5 KOs) down, dropping him on two different occasions with left hooks in round five to earn a knockout victory. Referee Zac Young stopped the bout at 1:45.

Welterweight prospect David Mijares (4-0, 3 KOs) knocked out Jason Gavino (3-4, 2 KOs) at 2:42 of the opening round.

Highly-touted amateur Marvyn Cabrera made his pro debut a successful one, knocking out Jose Caro (0-4) at 1:17 of the first round.

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 (Calif.) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing