By Héctor Villarreal

In a very competitive fight, Panamanian superfeather Ricardo “El Científico” Nuñez (18-2, 16 KOs), ranked 6th by WBA, had to go to the distance for only the second time in his career to conquer the WBC Latin American Championship by unanimous decision over Venezuelan Jesus “Shotgun” Cuadro (11-2, 7 KOs).

Cuadro dropped Nuñez on round 4 but referee Hector Afu didn´t rule it a knockdown. The local fighter stumbled again in the fifth round before sending Cuadro to the canvas for the first official knockdown of the fight scheduled for eight, which headed the “Homenaje al Maestro” card presented by Promociones y Eventos del Istmo at Fantastic Casino in Albrook, Panama City, to honor the late journalist Felix Piñango. All 3 judges, Jesus Aleman (77-74), Bolivar Arauz (78-73) and Fernando Murray (76-75) scored the fight in favor of Nuñez.