Hard-hitting junior welterweight Carlos Sanchez won an unpopular and controversial technical decision over Alexander Duran, Wednesday night, at Auditorio BB (formerly known as Auditorio Blackberry), in Mexico City.

Scores were 58-56 twice and 60-56 for Sanchez, who goes to 24-1, 19 knockouts.

The southpaw Duran was the more effective fighter from the opening bell, utilizing his awkwardness to outbox Sanchez from distance. Sanchez looked somewhat puzzled during the first couple of rounds, doing very little outside from throwing a pawing jab.

Duran was fluid with his combinations, mixing his attack to the body. It wasn’t until the fifth round in which Sanchez closed the distance between the two fighters. Sanchez aggressively let his hands go but few punches found their mark.

Midway through the sixth round, an accidental clash of heads opened a cut over Sanchez’s right eye. Toward the end of the round, the ringside physician advised referee Laurentino Ramirez to stop the fight. Because the fight was stopped from an accidental clash of heads, it went to the scorecards.

The fight streamed live on the ProBox TV app and ProBox’s official YouTube channel. Paulie Malignaggi and Chris Algieri provided color commentary for ProBox TV and both had Duran comfortably ahead. The Ring had Duran up 59-55 over Sanchez.

The 27-year-old Sanchez, who resides in San Felipe, Mexico, was coming off a knockout win over Elvis Torres in his previous fight on October 1. Sanchez suffered his first loss as a pro at the hands of Pedro Campa on March 19 of last year. It was revealed after the Campa fight that Sanchez suffered a fracture in his left hand from landing a punch, preventing him from continuing.

Duran drops to 21-1, 7 KOs. The 30-year-old was fighting for the first time outside of his native Panama and defeated Edwin Bennett by unanimous decision in his previous fight on April 29 of last year.

In the co-feature bout, featuring bantamweights who reside in Mexico City, Abraham Arreola defeated Brandon Reyes by technical decision. Scores were 80-73 twice and 79-74 for Arreola, who improved to 5-2-1, 4 KOs.

The 20-year-old Arreola was at his best initiating exchanges and switching from a conventional stance to southpaw and back. He put Reyes on the defensive and never allowed him to get any offense going except for when Reyes looked to counter Arreola’s offense.

The bout was stopped after the seventh round after an accidental clash of heads produced a cut over Reyes’ left eye that the ringside physician deemed too deep to allow the fight to continue.

Reyes falls to 6-1-1, 2 KOs.

In the opening bout of the ProBox TV stream, junior welterweight Rogaciano Guerrero defeated Eduardo Martinez (10-2, 7 KOs) of nearby Cuernavaca by majority decision. One judge scored the bout 57-57, while the other two judges scored the bout 58-56 for Guerrero.

Guerrero, who resides in Guerrero, Mexico, goes to 4-2 , 2 KOs and took the fight on a day’s notice.

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