By Jake Donovan

Former featherweight contender Orlando Cruz turned in perhaps his best performance in years, dropping Romulo Koasicha three times en route to a 10-round virtual shutout Friday evening at A La Carte Pavilion in Tampa, Florida.

Scores were 99-88 (twice) and 100-87 in favor of Cruz, who floored Koasicha twice in round six and one more time in the 10th and final round.

In terms of name recognition, the matchup of fallen featherweight title challengers was one of the more notable Telemundo-televised headliners in recent years. Once the opening bell sounded, however, it was pure "Cruz control" as Koasicha was never able to get untracked. 

Cruz was down on his luck at one point, having suffered a one-sided knockout loss to Orlando Salido in their Oct. '13 vacant featherweight title fight, followed by an upset loss to Gamalier Rodriguez six months later. He's since turned around his career, moving up in weight after a 14-month ring break. 

The climb up the scale seems to have worked out for Cruz, who still longs to become the third member of the 2000 Puerto Rico Olympic boxing team to capture a major title. It remains a longshot for now, but dominating a fellow former title challenger is a great starting point. 

Koasicha was fighting for the first time since a lopsided stoppage loss to otherworldly Vasyl Lomachenko last November, He looked just as helpless on Friday, with Cruz offering a steady mix of boxing and trading, taking little punishment as he consistently scored with combination punching. 

After pitching a shutout through five rounds, Cruz turned up the heat in the second half of the contest. Right hand shots from the southpaw boxer twice floored Koasicha in round six, first from a shot upstairs and then from body shots later in the frame. 

It put the fight well out of reach, but Cruz continued to pile up points. The fighting pride of San Juan - as well as proud member of the LGBTQ community as boxing's openly gay active male prizefighter - put an exclamation point on a dominant performance with another knockdown in the 10th and final round.

The win is Cruz' third straight as he advances to 23-4-1 (11KOs). He has now won his past six Telemundo-aired fights, including a 10-round nod over Gabino Cota last October in Kissimmee, Florida.

Koasicha suffers his second straight loss, falling to 25-6 (15KOs). The 24-year old remains winless (0-3) outside of Mexico.  

In the televised swing bout, 21-year old Sammy Valentin (6-0, 5KOs) forced former welterweight contender Cosme "Chino" Rivera to quit inside of four rounds. The unbeaten prospect - who signed with All Star Boxing last October - won nearly every second of every round before dropping and stopping Rivera (38-23-3, 26KOs) with a left and right hand to the body. 

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox