Featherweight Abraham Lopez gets decision over Julian Ramirez

— -- CARSON, Calif. -- Southern California featherweight prospects Julian Ramirez and Abraham Lopez, both undefeated, were looking to make the leap to young contender when they squared off in the plum spot of an HBO-televised co-feature on the Francisco Vargas-Orlando Salido card Saturday night at the StubHub Center.

When their action-packed fight was over, it was Lopez who had taken that step, by virtue of a unanimous decision win, though many at ringside had Ramirez, the nephew of the late junior lightweight world champion Genaro Hernandez, winning. All three judges scored it for Lopez, 98-92, 97-93 and 97-93.

"It was a close fight, my respects for Julian. He definitely is a hard puncher," Lopez said. "But I'm not hurt. I was able to counter the punches he came at me with. This victory opens doors for me. It moves me up to the next level in my career and gives me the opportunities to fight for a world title. I'm glad I listen to my corner. That's what ultimately helped get the victory tonight."

The two let the leather fly throughout the fight. Both landed power shots and marched forward in an exciting battle that went back and forth. The 28-year-old Lopez (21-0-1, 15 KOs), of La Puente, California, who has a degree to be a respiratory therapist, looked like the much bigger man after rehydrating following the weigh-in, and his punches seemed crisper as he tried to impose himself on Ramirez.

Ramirez, a 23-year-old southpaw from East Los Angeles who was trained by former bantamweight world titleholder Wayne McCullough for the first time, is a scrappy fighter, and he continually found a way to attack him on the inside to the head and body.

An accidental head-butt late in the sixth round opened a bloody cut over Ramirez's right eye in the final seconds of the sixth round. The cut did not appear to bother Ramirez (16-1, 8 KOs), who continued to grind away until the final bell.

"This was a really tough fight," Ramirez said. "I knew he would be a tough opponent, and that's what I trained hard for. I know that he won some rounds, but I thought that I did very well out there. And I thought that I had a very good shot at winning this. I feel that the decision should have been much closer. But it is what it is, and that's boxing."

Rosado edges Gutierrez

Philadelphia middleweight Gabriel Rosado, a former two-time world title challenger, survived a very rough fight against Mexico's Antonio Gutierrez (20-2-1, 9 KOs), the crowd favorite, to keep alive his hopes for a major fight later this summer or fall.

Rosado survived a fourth-round knockdown and went on to win the grueling action fight 96-93, 95-94, 95-94, much to the disappointment of the booing crowd.

"I was hoping this fight would go a little differently," Rosado said. "I wasn't expecting to get knocked down. I know that I was making some mistakes in my rounds, and he was coming at me really hard. I know that I have a lot of support out here. This was a learning experience for me. Despite my flaws, I was able to get back up and take this victory."

Rosado (23-9, 13 KOs), in his second fight with former junior middleweight titleholder Fernando Vargas as his head trainer, has a chance to be an opponent for middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez in September, but it's more likely he will be the opponent for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in August. Rosado prefers the Chavez fight.

Gutierrez, 22, landed a clean left hook to drop Rosado, 30, early in the fourth round, which ended with an extended toe-to-toe exchange in which both men landed powerful punches as the crowd roared. It was a hard-hitting, action-packed fight, and both got in their licks, including a hard uppercut from Rosado that rocked Gutierrez to his boots in the seventh round.

"I had studied Rosado before this fight and knew he was a fighter with great ability and punching power," Gutierrez said. "This has been the most difficult fight of my career thus far, but I feel that I was very impressive and dominated many of the rounds tonight. I don't agree with the decision. I feel I gave the better fight tonight, and the crowd agrees with me."

Rosado, who looked good in a 10-round unanimous decision victory against former welterweight titlist Joshua Clottey in December, won his second fight in a row following a stretch in which he went 0-4 with one no-decision, all against top opposition, including in title fights against Gennady Golovkin and Peter Quillin.

• Christian Gonzalez (14-0, 12 KOs), a junior lightweight prospect from Buena Park, California, took it to Philippines' Jhon Gemino (12-7-1, 5 KOs) for eight rounds in a one-sided decision that he won 80-72, 80-72 and 79-71.
• Los Angeles junior lightweight prospect Nick Arce (8-0, 6 KOs) cruised to a shutout decision against Mexico's Francisco Dominguez (8-10, 2 KOs) by winning 60-54 on all three scorecards.
• East Los Angeles junior welterweight Jonathan Navarro (6-0, 5 KOs) dropped Marc Torres (4-2, 1 KO), of McAllen, Texas, twice in a second-round knockout win. Navarro sent him to his rear end with a left hook to the head late in the first round and dropped him with a body shot in the second round. Torres got a knee before referee Jack Reiss waved off the fight at 1 minute, 21 seconds.
• Welterweight Alexis Rocha (3-0, 2 KOs), of Santa Ana, California, rolled to a shutout decision against Anthony Woods (0-4), of Las Vegas, by winning 40-36 on all three scorecards.
• San Diego lightweight Genaro Gamez (2-0, 2 KO) needed only 96 seconds to knock out Juan Bryand (1-4), of Laredo, Texas. He put him away for a 10-count with a right hand to the body. Bryand went down to a knee, and referee Reiss counted him out.
• Lightweight Oscar Duarte (5-0, 2 KOs), of Mexico, cruised to a shutout decision against Luis Lizarraga Jr. (5-9-1, 2 KOs) by dropping him in the fourth round and winning 40-35 on all three scorecards.