Kerman Lejarraga defeated Tyrone Nurse by unanimous decision Saturday night at the Plaza de Toros de Puerto Banus in Marbella, Spain.

No scores were announced as Lejarraga improves to 31-2, 24 knockouts.

Lejarraga, who resides in northern city of Bilbao, last fought on February 29, defeating Jose de Jesus Macias by unanimous decision over 10 rounds.

The 28-year-old was in control from the opening bell, and it looked as though the fight was going to end early as Lejarraga hurt Nurse in the first round. Nurse was able to recover, but was content to fight off the ropes and did little to engage Lejarraga, who was the aggressor throughout much of the fight. 

By the midway point of the fight, Lejarraga was content to fight in spurts, throwing and landing two and three punch combinations as Nurse would throw one punch at a time off the ropes. The second half of the fight was devoid of action as Nurse did little to engage Lejarraga.

Now fighting as a junior middleweight, Lejarraga’s only two defeats as a pro have come against David Avanesyan, both of which came by knockout.

Nurse, who resides in Huddersfield, England, drops to 37-7-2, 7 KOs. 

In the co-feature, junior lightweight John Carter of nearby Granada, dropped Ibon Larrinaga once en route to a knockout win in round 8.

Carter, who has now stopped three of his last five bouts, improves to 13-0-1, 7 KOs.

The 26-year-old Carter dropped Larrinaga in round 3, although Larrinaga complained he tripped on the ring advertisements on the canvas. The knockdown seemed to spur Larrinaga’s aggression, closing the distance between the two and landing thudding punches in rounds 5 and 6. 

Carter battered Larrinaga in round 8 until the referee saw enough and stopped the fight to prevent Larrinaga from receiving further punishment.

Larrinaga, who resides in Guecho, Spain, drops to 13-4, 2 KOs.

Lightweight Samuel Molina, a 21-year-old from Malaga, stopped Madrid’s Ruben Garcia (5-9-2, 1 KO) at the end of the second round. With the victory, Molina improves to 15-0, 7 KOs.

Featherweight Juan Jesus Antunez dropped Alex Mora (10-15-6, 4 KOs) once in round 2 en route to a unanimous decision victory to improve to 7-0, 3 KOs.

Mgz Promotions promoted the card. 

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. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing