Flyweight Adrian Curiel won a hard-fought unanimous decision over Hugo Guarneros Friday night at the Como del Sindicato Nacional de los Trabajadores IMSS in Mexico City. 

Scores were 98-91, 98-92, and 96-93 for Curiel, who improves to 16-3 (3 knockouts). 

The clash between Curiel and Guarneros was a clash between Mexico City residents who were each coming off a loss. The winner would put themselves in contention in a competitive 112-pound division.

Both fighters had their moments early on in the fight, but Curiel was effective landing left-right combinations or counter right hands to Guarneros’ head. Guarneros attempted to close the gap to connect to the head and body.

Curiel looked as though he scored a knockdown in round 4. Television replays showed Guarneros’ left glove touch the canvas in an attempt to break his fall after a left hook from Curiel landed on Guarneros’ chin. Later in the round, referee Jose Guadalupe Garcia deducted a point from Guarneros for repeated low blows.

Guarneros did find success during the middle rounds, forcing at times Curiel to fight off his back foot. Curiel was the more-effective fighter during the final two rounds of the fight, outlanding a tiring Guarneros in the center of the ring.

The 21-year-old Curiel acknowledged Guarneros’ toughness during the fight, but pointed out a prior injury made the fight difficult than it should have been.

“It was a very good fight,” said Curiel, who lost a close decision to prospect Joselito Velazquez in his last bout on November 30. “Guarneros was tough, but in the lead-up to the fight, I suffered an injury to my left hand. It bothered me a lot during the fight and it almost felt like a fracture, but our willpower and positive attitude carried us to the win.”

“The key (to victory) tonight was discipline. I needed to listen more to my corner. The action of the fight took me out of my game-plan. But I will listen more to my corner in the future. We cannot afford any losses moving forward, especially against the best fighters.” 

Guarneros drops to 16-4-2, 8 KOs.

Featherweight Fernando Romero of Tlaxcala, Mexico dropped Pedro Jesus Cadena (1-3-1, 1 KO) three times en round to a knockout win in round 3. 

Romero (5-0, 4 KOs) dropped Cadena twice with right hands during the last 30 seconds of the second round. Cadena was able to make it out of the round, but a left hook to the head in round 3 dropped him to the canvas, prompting an immediate stoppage at 48 seconds.

In an upset on paper, lightweight Carlos Reyes dropped prospect Martin Escamilla (10-3-1, 3 KOs) twice en route to a knockout victory. Reyes dropped Escamilla with a left hook to the body in the opening round and finished off Escamilla with a left hook to the head at 41 seconds of round 2 as referee Laurentino Ramirez immediately stopped the fight.

Welterweight Raul Garcia was successful in his pro debut, stopping Hector Fuentes (3-3, 2 KOs) at 1:06 of round 2. 

The ‘Boxeo Telemundo’ telecast was the final one of the 2020 spring season.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and FightNights.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing