Friday’s results: Hernandez outpoints Frias; Rhodes stops Moore; McCall outpoints Whitaker.

Once-beaten welterweight Freddy Hernandez took another step toward earning contender status with a 10-round unanimous decision over Damian Frias in the main event of a Showtime-televised card from Laredo, Texas on Friday.

Hernandez (26-1, 18 KOs), who won by unanimous scores of 98-92, outworked his lesser-experienced opponent in every round but the 10th, when Frias (16-2, 7 KOs) finally let his hands go.

Hernandez was most effective when going to the body of Frias, a late-comer to the sport who was reluctant to engage for most of the fight.

At the behest of his trainer, former middleweight titleholder John David Jackson, Frias stepped up his aggression late in the bout, nailing Hernandez with straight lefts in the seventh round and even hurting the Mexico City native in the 10th, but it was too little too late.

In the co-featured bout of the ShoBox: The Next Generation broadcast, undefeated junior featherweight Victor Fonseca scored a ninth-round TKO of former title-challenger Al Seegar.

Seegar (28-5, 22 KOs), who was ahead on two of the scorecards after eight rounds, was the aggressor for most of the bout but he was not very effective and repeatedly walked into the straight lefts and right hooks of his more technically sound opponent.

Although Seegar scored well with his jab and straight right while stalking Fonseca (17-0, 9 KOs) in rounds seven and eight, the Georgia native's face had become a swollen bloody mess by the late rounds.

Fonseca, a sharp-punching southpaw from Puerto Rico, pressured Seegar in the ninth, scoring with flush lefts from the outside and mauling the young vet when in close.

Seegar quickly wilted under Fonseca's aggression and was badly wobbled by a left hand midway through the round. Fonseca stayed on top of his reeling opponent and measured Seegar for one more big left that sent him into the ropes where referee Ruben Carrion waved the fight off without a count at 1:41 of the round.

The tough loss was Seegar's fourth in his last five bouts and his first fight since his tragic stoppage win over Benjamin Flores, who fell into a coma and died five days after their bout in April.

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Former prospect Ryan Rhodes jump-started his career by stopping RING-ranked contender Jamie Moore in the seventh round of a rousing battle of British junior middleweight standouts in Lancashire, England on Friday.

Rhodes, a versatile southpaw from Sheffield who began his career with much fanfare, dropped the Lancashire native and crowd favorite with a right hook at the start of the seventh round. Moore, a gutsy southpaw who was riding a 12-bout win streak into Friday's fight, got up and engaged in toe-to-toe exchanges until he punched himself out and had to be rescued by the referee at 2:35 of the round.

Prior to the stoppage, Moore's relentless pressure and infighting appeared to be getting the better of Rhodes in the middle rounds of the bout.

However, Rhodes, who has fought most of his career at middleweight, where he came up short in all of his step-up bouts, exhibited a new-found resilience and composure in weathering the storm.

The scheduled 12-round bout was a title eliminator, which could earn Rhodes a shot at the 154-pound belt currently held by Sergio Martinez.

That's a bitter pill to swallow for Moore (32-4, 23 KOs), who was THE RING's No. 8-ranked junior middleweight going into Friday's fight and hadn't lost a fight in five years.

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LAS VEGAS – In a matchup of former heavyweight contenders, Oliver McCall narrowly outpointed Lance Whitaker in a 10-round bout in Las Vegas.

McCall (54-9, 37 knockouts) knocked down Whitaker (34-6-1, 28 KOs) in the first round, which proved to be the difference in the scoring. All three judges had it 95-94 for McCall, meaning each fighter won five rounds.

I also had it 95-94 for McCall. My card was even after the fifth and seventh rounds but McCall captured two of the final three rounds to win.

In the co-main event, Victor Barragan (11-4, 3 KOs) stopped Arthur Williams (46-16-1, 30K KOs) at 1:20 of the seventh round of a six-round cruiserweight fight. The fight was even on all three cards after six rounds.

The McCall-Whitaker report was filed by Chuck Giampa, a retired boxing judge from Nevada