Joselito Velazquez continues his journey towards the upper echelon of the flyweight division.

Velazquez defeated Pablo Carrillo by unanimous decision Friday night at the Cancun Center in Cancun, Mexico. All three judges scored the bout 99-91 for Velazquez, who improved to 18-1-1, 12 knockouts.

Carrillo was very game from the opening bell, willing to take punishment in an attempt to walk down Velazquez to land one and two punches.

The 30-year-old utilized his reach and height to outbox Carrillo. Velazquez was effective at keeping his distance, but was still able to win several exchanges anytime both fought in the center of the ring or against the ropes.

Friday night marked a homecoming of sorts for Velazquez, who grew up in the Cancun area. Velazquez’s fight against Carrillo was the first time in over six years he had fought there.

Velazquez, who resides in the Los Angeles suburb of West Covina, previously fought on June 10 in Mexicali, Mexico, knocking out Juan Toscano at the end of the third round. Immediately after the knockout, a man later identified as Toscano’s older brother entered the ring and charged at Velazquez, assaulting him until security entered the ring to tackle and detain Toscano, who was arrested and charged with assault.

The 30-year-old Velazquez has won his last three fights since a unanimous decision loss to former WBC world titleholder Cristofer Rosales on December 3 of last year.

Velazquez represented Mexico at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and is managed by Frank Espinoza. Velazquez trains in San Diego with Eddy Reynoso, who also trains Ring magazine super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, two-division world titleholder Oscar Valdez, and unbeaten heavyweight Frank Sanchez.

Carrillo, who resides in Barranquilla, Colombia, falls to 28-10-2, 17 KOs. In his previous fight on May 23, Carrillo was stopped in the final moments of the last round at the hands of junior bantamweight contender Kosei Tanaka.

The 35-year-old was unbeaten in his previous four bouts since a unanimous decision loss to Donnie Nietes in April 2021.

In the co-feature, former world junior featherweight title challenger Aaron Alameda earned a technical knockout win after late-sub Adrian Robles in round six. Alameda improved to 28-2, 16 KOs.

The 30-year-old Alameda stopped Josue Portales in this previous fight on August 19 of last year in his hometown of Nogales, Mexico. The 30-year-old has won his last three fights since back-to-back defeats at the hands of Luis Nery and Angelo Leo within a nine-month span in 2020 and 2021. Alameda has recently been sparring Ring magazine junior bantamweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada.

Robles, who resides in Tepic, Mexico, was taking a major step-up against Alameda. According to Boxrec, Robles was listed at 5-0, 5 KOs entering Friday’s fight against Alameda. Robles last fought on June 4 of last year, knocking out Daniel Zaragoza Garcia in the fifth round.

Both fights aired live on Televisa and TUDN throughout Mexico. The card was co-promoted by Oswaldo Kuchle, Jose ‘Pepe’ Gomez, and Guillermo Rocha.

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]

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