Jose Uzcategui, the IBF super middleweight world champion, moved up to light heavyweight for a non-title bout while he awaits his first title defense, more than likely against Caleb Plant. He took care of business and won a clear unanimous decision against Ezequiel Maderna on Friday evening at the Oracle Arena. Scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 98-92.

The bout was decent, but for a heavy-handed fighter such as Uzcategui the performance was rather uninspiring given that he was the headliner of the main event.

“I just played around and got some rounds,” Uzcategui said. “Now that I didn’t get the knockout, maybe the other champions will have the guts to fight me.”

Jerwin “Pretty Boy” Ancajas made the “sixth defense” of his IBF junior bantamweight world title, battling to a draw against Alex Santiago. The scorecards read 116-112 Ancajas, 118-111 Santiago, and 114-114.

The bout which was a competitive action affair, which saw Ancajas getting hit a lot and getting pushed around. The bout was fairly even from a standpoint of simply observing it, hopefully, we get a rematch to this bout.

“It was a good, entertaining fight,” Ancajas said. “My timing was a little off. He was a little awkward. I felt like I pressed the fight and did enough to win.”

Said Santiago: “Everyone saw the fight, and everyone saw that I won the fight clearly.”

Ancajas (30-1-2, 20 KOs) was forced into a firefight against the hard-charging Santiago (16-2-5,7 KOs), who was making his first attempt at a world title. Santiago landed a flush combination on Ancajas’ jaw to end the second round, a sign that it would be a long evening for Ancajas.

It was the stiffest test of Ancajas’ two-year title reign, a closely contested affair with a number of razor-thin rounds.

With title defense number six under his belt, Ancajas now turns his attention to lucky number seven.

“I still want all the champions at 115,” Ancajas said. “Nothing has changed.”

Undercard results

Super middleweight Janibek Almikhanuly (3-0, 1 KO), unanimous decision, six rounds, Carlos Galvan (16-8-1, 15 KOs), welterweight Askhat Ualikhanov (4-1 2KOs) picked up a six-round decision over Angel Hernandez (13-11-2, 8 KOs), super bantamweight Joshua Greer Jr. picked up a third-round technical knockout over Giovanni Delgado, super bantamweight Genesis Servania KOed Carlos Carlson in the third round, Rico Ramos picked up a wide eight-round decision over Daniel Olea, Vallejo, Ca’s Derry Noble got a four-decision over Edson Neri and super lightweight Justin Cardona of Salinas, CA made his professional debut with TKO in the third round over Arturo Izaguirre.