By Francisco Salazar

LOS ANGELES - Azat Hovhannisyan is coming into his own, even after losing his pro debut.

Hovhannisyan outboxed Isao Carranza to win a one-sided eight round decision before a sold-out Belasco Theatre.

The Armenia-born Hovhannisyan improves to 12-2, with 12 KOs. Carranza, from Mexico City, falls to 15-9-1, with 10 KOs.

Hovhannisyan was the more-skilled fighter, battering Carranza throughout the fight. Carranza attempted to close the distance, but anytime he moved forward, Hovhannisyan landed two-three punch combinations to the head.

Carranza continued to be game, but his face paid a price for it, as he cut above both eyes and his face reddened from the amount of punches he absorbed from Hovhannisyan.

All three judges scored the bout 80-72 in favor of Hovhannisyan.

The win snapped a five-bout streak of knockout victories for Hovannisyan. He has now won his last six bouts.

In a battle of unbeaten welterweights, 19-year-old Alexis Rocha defeated Cesar Valenzuela by unanimous decision over eight rounds. The southpaw Rocha was too talented for the brawler Valenzuela. Rocha (8-0, with 5 KOs) stunned Valenzuela repeatedly with counter left crosses or right hooks to the head of Valenzuela. Towards the later rounds, Valenzuela would throw lead right hands, scoring at times, but Rocha easily countered to Valenzuela's head. All three judges scored the bout 80-72 in favor of Rocha.

Super middleweight Niko Valdes stopped Ernesto Berrospe in the second round. In a battle of southpaws, Valdes (5-0, with 5 KOs) utilized his athleticism and strength to put the 31-year-old Berrospe on the defensive. Berrospe (11-11, with 6 KOs) held on to Valdes anytime the 23-year-old initiated offense. Midway through the second round, Valdes dropped Berrospe against the ropes with a left cross to the head. Berrospe battled back, but referee Jack Reiss stepped in and stopped the bout at 2:26 as Valdes launched another attack that hurt Berrospe against the ropes.

Featherweight Tenochtitlan Nava (6-0, with 1 KO) won a six round unanimous decision over Christian Renteria. Nava landed the more-telling blows throughout the fight against the southpaw Renteria (7-5, with 6 KOs). Scores were 60-54, 59-55, and 58-56 for Nava.

In the opening bout of the Golden Boy Promotions card, junior lightweight Jousce Gonzalez dropped Daniel Bastien (4-6, with 1 KO) three times en route to a first round knockout. Referee Jack Reiss stopped the bout at 2:57. All of Gonzalez's (5-0, with 5 KOs) knockouts have occurred in the opening bout.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, RingTV.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing