NEW YORK — Juan Heraldez and Argenis Mendez fought to a majority draw in their scheduled ten-round bout on the opening TV bout of the Deontay Wilder-Dominic Breazeale heavyweight championship bout at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The official scores at ringside were 97-93 for Mendez and 95-95 x 2.

The maturation from prospect to contender may have been too steep a climb for Mayweather Promotions junior welterweight Heraldez (16-0-1, 10 KOs), who intended on making a statement in his Showtime debut. The veteran former world champion Mendez, 33, outgunned Heraldez and neutralized the younger man’s power and speed.

Mendez’ timing saved him from getting caught with anything of significance from Heraldez as he feinted and countered intelligently using his championship experience to keep Heraldez guessing.

Mendez (25-5-3, 12 KOs) buzzed Heraldez in the ninth and tenth round causing Heraldez to hold on and evade further danger rather than exchange. Mendez lacked the little extra gas in the tank to catch Heraldez and put him down.

Heraldez had his best moment of the bout in the fifth round as he caught Mendez napping with a straight right hand, sending the Dominican fighter into the ropes. As Heraldez attempted to come forward Mendez measured Heraldez with a double jab to end the rally.

This is the second draw this year for Mendez, who also fought to draw with Anthony Peterson two months ago in DC. Prior to that Aregnis had won two straight since suffering  back-to-back defeats to Robert Easter Jr. and Luke Campbell.

Heraldez is coming off a seventh-round stoppage of Eddie Ramirez in February and was hoping to use this bout as a launching pad to a world title opportunity, which will now have to wait.