Junior lightweight prospect Alberto Machado has had a penchant for scoring early knockout victories. He demonstrated Friday night he can outbox and dominate his opposition over the distance.

Machado outboxed streaking fringe contender Carlos Morales, winning a 10-round unanimous decision victory at the Complejo Ferial in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Machado improves to 18-0, with 15 knockouts, while Morales drops to 16-2-3, with 6 KOs. With the win, Machado earned a No. 3 ranking with the WBA.

The bout was another chapter of the rivalry between fighters from Mexico and Puerto Rico, but Machado-Morales did not live up to the explosive fights involving the likes of Salvador Sanchez, Guadalupe Pintor, Wilfredo Gomez and Carlos Ortiz.

Machado, who resides in nearby San Juan, was coming off a first-round knockout victory over Juan Jose Martinez on April 1. The Martinez knockout was Machado’s 12th knockout in a row.

Morales, who is originally from Hidalgo, Mexico and currently resides in the Los Angeles area, entered the Machado bout having won his previous 16 bouts. Morales began his pro career winless in four bouts.

Alberto Machado takes the fight to Carlos Morales. Photo / Golden Boy Promotions

The southpaw Machado scored a knockdown Round 2, dropping Morales with a right-left combination to the head. Despite falling face-first to the canvas, Morales did not look visibly hurt.

Morales was content to throw one punch at a time during the middle rounds, scoring with counter or lead straight right hands to the head. The southpaw Machado won the rounds by outboxing and outworking Morales during this stretch.

Sensing he was down in the fight, Morales pressed the action during the last couple of rounds. Morales let his hands go as he walked Machado down, but the rally was too little, too late as Machado was able to hold on for the victory.

Scores were 99-90, 99-90, and 98-91 for Machado, who is promoted by Miguel Cotto Promotions.

In the co-feature between two southpaw bantamweights, Nate Green remained unbeaten, winning an unpopular eight-round unanimous decision over Emanuel Rivera.

Green goes to 9-0, with 2 KOs. Rivera, who resides in nearby To a Baja, drops to 17-2, with 11 KOs.

After stunning the New Haven, Connecticut resident in round one, Rivera dropped Green in round two  with a barrage of punches against the ropes.

Rivera consistently beat Green to the punch during the middle rounds, but Green was able to find success in the later rounds, landing counter left hands to the head of Rivera.

All three judges scored the bout 77-74 in favor of Green. RingTV.com scored the bout 77-74 in favor of Rivera.

In the opening bout of the “GBP on ESPN2” broadcast, junior bantamweight Edwin Rodriguez won a hard-fought six round majority decision over previously-unbeaten Juan Carlos Machado (6-1, with 4 KOs).

One judge scored the bout 57-57, while the other two judges scored the bout 58-56 in favor of Rodriguez, who improves to 9-4, with 5 KOs.

Also on the card, junior welterweight and former amateur standout Luis Feliciano (3-0) won a six round unanimous decision over Jimmy Rosario (2-5, with 1 KO).

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV.com 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