By Rocky Morales at ringside

Journeyman middleweight Vaughn Alexander (16-6-1, 9 KOs) was the upset split decision winner over WBA #5 rated Luis Arias (20-2-1, 9 KOs) on the Davis-Cruz undercard Sunday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It was a sometimes ugly fight with Arias deducted one point for repeatedly shouldering Alexander. After a close fight that could have gone either way, judges scored it 96-93 Arias, overruled by two scores of 96-93 for Alexander. Arias was coming off a big win over Jarret Hurd but still found himself buried off television deep on the undercard against a journeyman fighter.

In a four round heavyweight contest between club level fighters, Carlos Garcon (2-0-1, 2KO) fought to a split decision draw against Jason Soto (3-1-2, 3KO). Each fighter was conditioned to go about two rounds because by the end of the second round, both were winded and content to just look at each other for the final seconds of the round. It was a lumbering affair for most of the remainder until Garcon landed a hard right cross to stun Soto in the closing seconds before the bell sounded. Judges had it 39-37 Soto, 39-37 Garcon and 38-38 even.

In a spirited battle between former world title champs, Ava Knight (20-2-5, 5KO) outworked Nancy Franco De Alba (19-16-2, 5KO) to earn a unanimous decision victory in a six round super flyweight bout. Knight dictated exhibited superior ring generalship and landed the cleaner punches over the more limited Franco De Alba. Judges scored it 59-55, 60-54 and 59-55, all in favor of Knight.

In opening action from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, Mia Ellis (3-0, 2KO) won a unanimous decision victory over Elizabeth Tuani (1-4, 1KO). It was an anticlimactic affair in a scheduled four round super featherweight bout with no knockdowns. Ellis prevailed by scores of 39-37 on all three scorecards.