Ricardo Quiroz tested Tiger Johnson, but the 2020 U.S. Olympian remained undefeated Friday night in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The rugged, stubborn Quiroz landed his fair share of clean punches against Johnson, a junior welterweight prospect who did enough to win by wide distances on two scorecards and was awarded an eight-round majority decision on the Luis Alberto Lopez-Joet Gonzalez undercard at American Bank Center. Judge Nathan Cantu scored the action even, 76-76, but judges Joel Elizondo and Jesse Reyes scored seven of the eight rounds for Johnson, who won by the same score, 79-73, on their cards.
Cleveland’s Johnson wasn’t overly impressive, though he improved to 10-0 (5 KOs). Quiroz, of Oxnard, California, fell to 13-3 (7 KOs).
It was clear by the eighth round that neither fighter had the power to score a knockout.
Johnson landed a right hand up top, but Quiroz caught him with another right hand to his body with under 10 seconds to go in the eighth and final round. Quiroz landed two rights to Johnson’s body in about a five-second span in the final minute of the eighth round.
Quiroz’s left hook partially landed, which made Johnson hold him a little less than a minute into the seventh round.
Johnson caught Quiroz with a left uppercut, but Quiroz’s right landed soon thereafter, with just over 20 seconds to go in the seventh round.
Johnson’s right and then a left made Quiroz take cover about 20 seconds into the sixth round.
Backed against the ropes, Quiroz landed a counter right hand with just over 20 seconds on the clock in the fifth round. Quiroz caught Johnson with a left hook about 45 seconds into the fifth round.
A right hand by Johnson connected barely 40 seconds into the fourth round. Johnson landed two right hands up top within the first 15 seconds of the fourth round.
A hard right by Johnson connected a little less than 30 seconds into the third round.
Quiroz connected with a right hand to Johnson’s head just before the bell sounded to end the second round. Quiroz landed back-to-back left hands to the body that made Johnson take a step backward with just under 45 seconds on the clock in the second round.
Johnson’s right-left combination caught Quiroz as he bent over inside of 25 seconds remaining in the opening round.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.