Diego de la Hoya was far too quick, far too accurate and simply far too good for Erik Ruiz in the main even of the latest edition of Golden Boy Promotions on ESPN card. De la Hoya (18-0, 9 KOs) dazzled and befuddled his opponent from the start, though he was unable to put Ruiz away.
De la Hoya, who is one of the best super bantamweights in the world, seemed to coast toward the end when it was apparent that Ruiz wasn’t going anywhere. Still, he continued to chip away at him and light him up when needed. In the end, de la Hoya won a lopsided 10-round unanimous decision with scores of 100-90 (twice) and 99-91. Ruiz fell to 16-7-1 with 6 KOs.
In the co-feature inside Casino Del Sol down in Tucson, Ariz., super middleweight prospect D’Mitrius Ballard had a tougher-than-expected time with late replacement Adrian Luna Flores, though he still triumphed. “Big Meech” dropped Flores (20-5-1, 13 KOs) in the second but never put him away. After 10 rounds, Ballard (17-0, 12 KOs) had his hand raised thanks to a unanimous decision via tallies of 97-92 and 95-94 (twice).