By Francisco Salazar

Bantamweight contender Jose Quirino fought to a split-decision draw against Joel Cordoba Saturday night at the Auditorio Municipal in Tijuana, Mexico.

Quirino entered the bout unbeaten in his previous 16 bouts and was again fighting in his hometown of Tijuana. His most impressive outing to date was a knockout victory over Hernan ‘Tyson’ Marquez on Apr. 21.

Both fighters produced excellent exchanges during the first half of the fight, thrilling the crowd that included WBO junior middleweight titleholder Jaime Munguia and newly-crowned WBO junior featherweight titleholder Emanuel Navarrete.

From the sixth round on, Cordoba was the more-effective and busier fighter of the two. Cordoba connected with several hooks and crosses to the head of Quirino, who looked tired with each passing round.

Cordoba pinned Quirino against the ropes in round nine, ripping several unanswered punches to the head. Quirino was able to hold on and weather the assault.

Late in the fight, referee ‘Cuqui’ Ramos deducted two points from Cordoba for allegedly spitting out his mouthpiece.

The two points deducted from Cordoba did make a difference, costing him a split-decision victory. One judge scored the bout 96-94 for Quirino, another judge scored the bout 96-92 for Cordoba, while the third judge scored the bout 94-94.

The crowd booed the decision, as many in attendance thought Cordoba, from Mexico City, did enough to win. Cordoba was listed as 14-4-1 entering the bout against Quirino, but Boxrec now has him as 7-4-2, 1 KO.

The southpaw Quirino goes to 20-2-3, 9 KOs.

Former world flyweight titleholder Juan Hernandez (35-3, 26 KOs) stopped Julio Cesar Castillo (10-4-4, 4 KOs) in the fourth round.

Hernandez dropped Castillo once in the opening round, then dropped him twice more in round four before a left hook to the head dropped Castillo flat onto his back, immediately prompting the fight to be waved off.

Featherweight Carlos Ornelas (22-1, 13 KOs) rebounded from his knockout loss to Willmank Canonico Brito on Sept. 29 to win a six-round unanimous decision over Edgar Lor (11-2-1, 9 KOs).

Former amateur standout Diego Pacheco, who is promoted by Matchroom Boxing, made his professional debut a successful one, stopping Luis Gonzalez (3-4, 1 KO) in the opening round.

A left hook to the body dropped Gonzalez to the canvas. The bout was stopped at 2:32.

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