Mepranum upsets Marquez

DALLAS, Texas -- Filipino flyweight prospect Richie Mepranum spoiled the U.S. debut of Mexico’s popular Hernan Marquez on Friday, out-pointing the undefeated junior bantamweight standout in the 10-round main event of a Fox Sports Net-televised card at the Gaylord Texan Convention center, the host hotel site of the Manny Pacquiao-Clottey fight.

Mepranum (17-2-1, 3 knockouts), who won by scores of 99-91, 98-92 and 96-94, stuck and moved efficiently against the aggressive but less accurate Marquez (27-1, 20 KOs).

In the co-featured bout, former heavyweight titleholder Samuel Peter (34-3, 27 KOs) looked sharp dispatching rangy prospect Nagy Aguliera (15-3, 10 KOs) in two rounds in an elimination bout for one of the belts.

Peter, who weighed in at 237½ pounds for the fight -- his lightest in nine years -- was fast and devastating, dropping Aguliera with a body shot early in the second round before overwhelming the 23-year-old former amateur standout against the ropes.

In the non-televised opening bout of the Top Rank-promoted show
Anthony Peterson (30-0, 20 KOs) , THE RING’s No. 6-rated lightweight, dominated the shopworn Juan Ramon Cruz (16-7-1, 12 KOs) to a third-round KO. Peterson dropped Cruz once in the second round and twice in the third.

Welterweight fringe contender Dennis Laurante (34-3-4, 17 KOs), a Filipino southpaw who is managed by Pacquiao, narrowly outboxed the badly faded but still very game veteran Ben Tackie (29-12-1, 17 KOs) over eight rounds. Lautante won by scores of 78-74 and 77-75 (twice). Some members of the media believed Tackie deserved the nod.

Undefeated junior middleweight prospect Omar Henry (8-0, 7 KOs) demolished Mexico’s Francisco Reza (5-2, 4 KOs) 33 seconds into the opening round of their scheduled six rounder.

Heavyweight prospect Andy Ruiz (3-0, 3 KOs) had an easy time stopping hapless Luke Vaughn (0-2) in the first round of the their scheduled four rounder.