PORT HUENEME, California – If there is a fighter whose career is catching a second wind, it is Francisco Santana.

The welterweight fringe contender was dominant Saturday night in his 10-round bout against Ed Paredes, winning a one-sided decision before a partisan crowd at the Oceanview Pavilion.

Santana improves to 24-4-1, 12 knockouts, while Paredes drops to 36-6-1, 24 KOs.

Santana was victorious in his last bout on Dec. 12, knocking out Arman Ovsepyan in the sixth round. Paredes entered the bout having lost of his last three bouts.

Santana, who resides in nearby Santa Barbara, was the aggressor from the opening bell, forcing Paredes to fight off his back heel during most of the fight. Santana did his best work when he had Paredes pinned against the ropes, landing repeatedly with overhand right hands and left hooks to the body.

Paredes held his ground at times, landing occasional right uppercuts or straight right hands to the head of Santana. His punch output though was nowhere near the amount of punches Santana threw and landed.

As the bout progressed into the later rounds, Santana and Paredes exchanged hard combinations to the head with the Mexican-American fighter getting the best of them.

Santana hurt Paredes with a barrage of punches midway through the final round. Santana went for broke, hoping to end matters, but Paredes was able to hold on until the bell sounded to end the round.

All three judges scored the bout 100-90 in favor of Santana.

Martinez stops Gutierrez

In the opening bout of the “Solo Boxeo Tecate” broadcast, lightweight Xavier Martinez knocked out Gabriel Gutierrez in the fourth round.

Martinez improves to 5-0, 3 KOs, while Gutierrez drops to 3-2, 2 KOs.

It was all Martinez from the opening bell, landing repeatedly with right crosses to the head and straight rights to the body. As the bout progressed, Gutierrez began to slow down considerably, dropping his hands and fighting with his mouth wide open.

Near the end of the third round, Martinez dropped Gutierrez with a series of right hands to the head. Gutierrez stood up, but the end looked inevitable based on the amount of punishment Gutierrez was receiving.

After the midway point of the fourth round, Martinez landed a left-right combination to the head, dropping Gutierrez to the canvas. Gutierrez beat the count, but referee Dr. Lou Moret stopped the bout at 2:00

Non-televised action:

– Junior welterweight Luis Ramos (26-2, 10 KOs) survived a seventh-round knockdown to win an eight-round unanimous decision over Cristobal Cruz. All three judges scored the bout 78-72 in favor of Ramos, who dropped Cruz in round six.

– Light heavyweight prospect Egor Mekhontsev (12-0, 8 KOs) stopped Victor Barragan in the fifth round. Mekhontsev, who won a gold medal in the 2012 Olympic Games, dropped Barragan (12-10-1, 3 KOs) twice in the second round and once in the third round. Referee Jack Reiss stopped the bout at 2:53 after Mekhontsev dropped Barragan with a straight left to the head.

– Welterweight Alexander Besputin (3-0, 3 KOs) stopped Christon Edwards (6-1, 3 KOs) after the fourth round. Besputin landed the harder and more effective punches throughout the fight, prompting Edwards (6-1, 3 KOs) to remain on his stool after the fourth round.

– In the opening bout of the Top Rank card, junior welterweight Maxim Dadashev, who was making his pro debut, stopped Darin Hampton (1-2, 1 KO) at 2:52 of the opening 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