Written by Nilo Guerrero took a major step forward toward contender status.
Guerrero defeated Mandeep Jangra by majority decision Thursday night at Legends Casino Hotel in Toppenish, Washington. Judge Alan Krebs (95-95) scored the bout even. Vincent Santino (96-94) and Perla Rodriguez (98-92) had it for Guerrero in a clash of unbeaten junior lightweight prospects.
With the win, Guerrero (10-0, 7 knockouts) won a minor world title belt.
“I am very grateful for the opportunity,” said Guerrero, a Nicaraguan prospect based in Coachella, California. “All the sacrifice and all the hard work was all worth it. I am now even more than ever motivated to go back to work and strive to be better every day.”
Guerrero was the more-effective fighter during the first half of the fight. The unbeaten 24-year old outboxed Jangra, varied his offense and connected with combinations to the head and body.
Sensing he was down on the scorecards, Jangra rallied during the last three rounds. He managed to win the tenth round on two of the three cards. Had he won it on the Santino’s card, the bout would have resulted in a split decision draw.
Instead, Jangra—an India-bred boxer now based in Florida—was forced to taste his first defeat. The Roy Jones Jr. Boxing Promotions-represented 31-year old—who also trains with the Hall of Fame boxer out of Pensacola—fell to 10-1 (7 KOs) with the setback.
In his previous fight on June 15, Guerrero defeated Diuhl Olguin by unanimous decision. The win over Olguin took place exactly four months after Guerrero knocked out Dan Hernandez in the opening round.
Guerrero is promoted by Toro Promotions and is managed by Vartan Torosyan.
Two fighters also trained by Jones were victorious.
Featherweight Dominique Roundtree of Augusta, Georgia defeated Roberto Cantu Pena by decision over six one-sided rounds. All three judges scored the bout 60-53 in favor of Roundtree, who improved to 10-0, 6 KOs.
Cantu Pena, originally from McAllen, Texas and now resides in Rio Bravo, Mexico, fell to 4-4, 3 KOs.
In junior middleweight action, Keon Papillion (10-0-1, 7 KOs) of Lafayette, Louisiana stopped journeyman Rondale Hubbert (16-33-3, 10 KOs) of Duluth, Minnesota after two rounds.
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 santio89@yahoo.com
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