Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank

Junior featherweight contender Chris Avalos got back on in the winner’s column on Saturday night, winning an eight-round unanimous decision over Rey Perez at the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas.

With the win, Avalos improves to 26-3 (19 knockouts), while Perez drops to 20-7 (5 KOs).

Avalos, who hails from Lancaster, California, took the fight on a week’s notice when Jessie Magdaleno suffered a hand injury during training camp, forcing him to withdraw from the fight.

It was mostly Avalos from the opening bell. The 25-year-old was the more effective fighter, bruising Perez’s eyes and forcing him to fight defensively by the midpoint of the bout.

Perez, from Santa Rosa City in the Philippines, did find some success landing a lead hook or counter, but was not able to put his punches together after that.

All three judges scored the bout in favor of Avalos, 80-72, 80-72, and 79-73.

It was Avalos’ first bout in approximately five months, when Carl Frampton stopped him in the fifth round in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

In the opening bout of the Top Rank “Solo Boxeo” telecast on UniMas, Casey Ramos improved to 20-0 (5 KOs) with a one-sided, eight-round decision over Daniel Evangelista. All three judges scored the bout 80-72 in favor of Ramos.

In non-televised action, lightweight prospect Erick De Leon (10-0, 5 KOs) stopped Daniel Perales (5-3-1) after the conclusion of the third 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 (CA) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing