By Jake Donovan

A battle of unbeaten lightweights saw Yuriorkis Gamboa preserve his "0" with a lackluster decision win over Darleys Perez at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.

Scores were 116-111 (twice) and 115-112 for Gamboa in their HBO-televised co-feature, which served as the supporting bout to the lineal light heavyweight championship between Chad Dawson and Adonis Stevenson. 

Gamboa was fighting for just the second time since his fallout with Top Rank in an ill-advised move that saw him pull out of a lucrative showdown with Brandon Rios and sit out most of 2012.

His comeback fight saw an uneven performance, picking up a win over Michael Farenas last December but suffering a mid-fight knockdown while fighting at 130 lb. Six months and five official pounds later, Gamboa now campaigns at the lightweight division.

The skill set was evident that drew rave reviews early in his career, but there is a growing concern that the former Olympic gold medalist and two-division champion has already peaked as a professional. On display in Montreal was a seemingly disinterested version relying on his natural talent to get the job done.

On this particular evening, it was enough. 

Perez shares blame as well for the dull nature of the fight. Neither fighter elected to let their hands go, leaving for a pair of controversial moments as the lone entries worth discussing. Gamboa scored a knockdown late in an otherwise lackluster opening round, the scoring blow a blocked punch to the forearm followed by a cupping of his opponent's head that was ruled a knockdown by inconsistent referee Marlon B. Wright.

Gamboa began to pile on rounds early on, but never to the point of dominating the fight. Perez found an opening midway through the fourth round, slowly closing the gap and scoring on the occasions he opted to let his hands go.

The problem for the Colombian export was that those moments were few and far between. They came enough to make scoring interesting in the middle rounds, but not enough to ever surge ahead. 

A potential game changing moment came in the 11th round, when Perez appeared to find Gamboa's tender chin. A counter left hand knocked the Cuban wunderkind off balance, forcing him to the canvas in what appeared to be a clean knockdown. The referee ruled otherwise, perhaps confusing Gamboa's lifted foot as a trip over his opponent. 

Even a correct ruling would have only given Perez a split decision loss rather than a unanimous verdict, however. The lightweight contender took the 12th round, but wasn't enough to erase the early deficit. 

Gamboa advances to 23-0 (16KO) with the win, though for the third straight time failed to impress onlookers. Perez suffers his first pro defeat, as his record moves to 28-1 (19KO). 

With the win, Gamboa is now in line for a future title shot at current lightweight beltholder Richard Abril. 

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board, Yahoo Boxing Ratings Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox