Junior welterweight Kendo Castaneda remained unbeaten Saturday night, outboxing Gilbert Venegas to win a 10-round unanimous decision at the Scottish Rite Theatre in San Antonio, Texas.

After a feeling-out and even opening round, it was all Castaneda. Fighting before a hometown crowd, the talented prospect focused his attack to the beltline of Venegas, who complained to referee Rafael Ramos that a few of the punches were below the belt.

Castaneda scoffed at the accusation.

“I was hitting him on or just above the belt,” said Castaneda after the fight. “My body shots were hurting him.”

Castaneda also mixed up his attack on Venegas, leading with lead hooks to the body or straight right hands to the head. Even when Venegas, sensing he was down on the scorecards, increased his punch output in the final two rounds, Castaneda remained the busier and more-effective fighter.

Scores were 98-92, 99-91 and 100-90 for Castaneda, who improves to 15-0 (7 knockouts).

“I just stay composed and worked behind a jab,” said Castaneda, who has won his last six fights. “Jabs will win fights. I tip my hat to Gilbert Venegas. He came to fight. I want to fight the big names out there. I want to thank my team, including Roy Jones Jr.”

With the win, Venegas captured a regional title belt and will likely enter the top 15 in the WBA rankings.

Venegas, who resides in East Moline, Illinois, drops to 10-1 (6 KOs).

Lightweight Xavier Wilson improved to 9-0-1 (1 KO) with a unanimous decision victory over Gelasio Cruz (2-5-2, 1 KO). Scores were 40-36, 40-36, and 39-37 for Wilson.

Junior middleweight and 42-year-old Luis Villarreal (4-0-1, 2 KOs) stopped Michael Klekotta (2-4, 1 KO) in the fourth round.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October 2013. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing

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