By David Robinett at ringside

In the main event of Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN from Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California, Jason Quigley (15-0, 11 KOs) retained his NABF middleweight title with an entertaining ten-round decision over game but faded former welterweight title challenger Freddy Hernandez (34-10, 22 KOs). Scores for the bout were 98-92, 98-92, 99-91.

In some respects, this was a disappointing performance by Quigley, who was never in any danger of losing, but was forced to go ten hard rounds with a 39-year old who was 4-7 in his last 11 fights coming in, with three of those seven losses by knockout. Nevertheless, Quigley controlled the action mainly behind his jab, relying almost exclusively on it in the early rounds, circling away from Hernandez and sticking him repeatedly as the well-seasoned veteran came forward.

It was interesting to see the light-hitting Hernandez trying to walk down Quigley, but, as the rounds wore on, his face started to show the effects of taking round after round of jabs and lead right hands. Quigley opened up a little more as the middle rounds progressed, continuing to fight off his back foot, but with Hernandez marching forward with no head movement, Quigley repeatedly bounced left and right hands off of Hernandez’s head, leaving it a bloody mess.

In the last few rounds, Quigley started to stand his ground for longer portions of the round, continuing to pepper Hernandez with left and right hands, but with a little more authority. To his credit, Hernandez never stopped coming forward and throwing punches, which the crowd appreciated, but he was outgunned and never seemed able to do anything other than keep Quigley from taking any rounds off. A win is a win, but without significant improvement, Quigley doesn’t appear to be a threat to the elite of the middleweight division in the near future.

In the evening’s co-main event, welterweight Eddie Gomez (22-3, 12 KOs), who entered the ring less than a week after the death of his father, was able to channel those emotions into a solid, if uneventful, unanimous decision over Shoki Sakai (22-9-2, 12 KOs). All three judges scored the bout an 80-72 shutout.

Gomez, a Junior Olympic champion whose professional career has never quite gotten off the ground, quickly established his superiority in this one, landing several shots to Sakai’s body in a dynamic first round , while easily evading the limited return fire coming back from his Japanese challenger. For whatever reason though, Gomez started to slowly ease off the gas after that, content to stick and move at a measured pace, which, when coupled with Sakai’s ineffectiveness, made the bout more of a sparring session. Nevertheless, it was a second consecutive easy victory for Gomez following a nearly eight-month layoff, signaling another possible run as a contender if he can continue his winning ways.

In a rarity for Fantasy Springs, only one local fighter was on the card this evening but he represented the region in fine fashion. Rommel Caballero (3-0-1, 2 KO), from nearby Coachella and younger brother of former world champion Randy Caballero, smoked Hugo Padron just 85 seconds into a scheduled six-round super featherweight bout. Caballero dropped Padron with a left hook about a minute into the fight, and then closed it out moments later with a left hand, right hand combination to the head. Padron got to his feet but was looking off into space as he was being called forward, prompting the referee to wave the fight over.

In a rematch of an earlier fight this year, lightweight Rey Perez (24-10, 8 KOs) beat Christian Gonzalez (19-3, 15 KOs) even more definitively the second time around, earning a stoppage at 2:15 of round seven in a scheduled eight round bout when Gonzalez’s corner threw in the towel as their fighter was on the verge of getting knocked out.

Gonzalez, known more commonly by his moniker “Chimpa” (so named for how he danced as a toddler) lost a wide eight round decision to Perez in this same ring in February. For the second go around, Gonzalez took the fight to Perez, getting in his chest and letting his hands go to both the head and body. The strategy worked for the most part, as Gonzalez appeared to win nearly every round by outworking and outlanding Perez, who spent a majority of the bout fighting ineffectively off his back foot trying to keep some distance between him and Gonzalez. However with the fight seemingly in the bag for Gonzalez, early in the seventh round Perez caught Gonzalez with a big left hand that badly hurt Gonzalez and left him glassy eyed and holding on. Sensing his opponent was on the verge of going down, Perez went on the offensive in between clinches by Gonzalez, finally dropping him with a left hook along the ropes. Gonzalez was able to continue but looked spent, and it only took a few more seconds before Perez had him trapped on the ropes again. Gonzalez’s corner promptly waved the towel to referee Lou Moret, resulting in a surprising comeback by Perez and leaving some tough questions for Gonzalez, who has been touted as a future contender but seems to have plateaued.

Featherweight Edgar Ortega (10-1-2, 5 KOs) overcame a rough first round to otherwise dominate Recky Dulay (11-4, 8 KOs) in a six-round bout by scores of 57-56, 58-55, 58-55. In the opening stanza, a left uppercut by Dulay caused Ortega to wobble backwards, prompting Dulay to pounce with a flurry of punches punctuated by another left hand that finally dropped Ortega in the corner. Ortega recovered quickly and was able to grind his way back into the fight by focusing on the body and then going upstairs when Dulay dropped his guard. Ortega continued to land the bigger shots in round three onward, particularly with the right hand, and never allowed Dulay back into the fight.

Undefeated Angel Ruiz (13-0, 9 KOs) had little trouble against Fantasy Springs regular Jonathan Fortuna (8-2, 5 KOs), laying out his opponent with a straight left hand at 1:40 of round four in a scheduled six-round super lightweight bout. Fortuna, whose claim to fame is that seven of his eight wins have come against opponents with a combined record of 2-134-2, had some success early with his quick hands and movement, repeatedly popping Ruiz with the right hand and annoying him with numerous pitty-pat combinations. Nevertheless, Ruiz was in control the whole fight, dropping Fortuna with a left to the body in round one. After a couple of competitive rounds, Ruiz dropped Fortuna again in round four after brief exchange in the corner before ending things moments later with the straight left that prompted an immediate referee’s stoppage. Fortuna remained under the bottom rope for several more seconds but eventually got up under his own power.

In the opening bout from Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California, super lightweight prospect Elnur Abduraimov (2-0, 2 KOs), made quick work of Giovannie Gonzalez (5-3, 5 KOs), earning a referee’s stoppage at 2:38 of round two in a scheduled four-round bout. Abduraimov, who sported an amateur record of 195-20 before a short stint in the semi-pro World Series of Boxing, made the jump to the pro ranks just three weeks ago after signing with DiBella Entertainment in May.