By John DiSanto – PhillyBoxingHistory.com

In the main event at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in North Philly, junior lightweight Tevin Farmer, 25-4-1, 5 KOs, won a 10-round unanimous decision over rugged and aggressive Mexican Arturo Santos, 19-8, 5 KOs. Starting early in the bout, southpaw Farmer fought with an apparently injured right arm. It clearly affected him in the first half of the fight, but he seemed to use the right more as the fight progressed. Between every round, Farmer’s corner massaged his right biceps. At times during the action, Tevin shook the sore limb. After the fight, Farmer’s trainer, Raul Rivas, said that he thought the biceps was torn. Regardless, Farmer extended his winning streak to 18 straight and preserved his #3 IBF ranking. Normally impossible to hit, Farmer took more shots that usual in this one. The official scores, 98-94, 97-93, and 96-94, reflected his uncharacteristic struggle. However, Farmer won the fight without question. The best round was the eighth, when both boxers slugged it out for much of the three minutes. The combination of Farmer’s injury and Santos’ aggressive style made this an exciting fight.

In a 4-round lightweight bout, Branden Pizarro, 5-0, 2 KOs, Philadelphia, won a unanimous decision over Texan Chris Gutierrez, 0-3. Pizarro dominated the action, and won by scores of 39-37 and 49-36 twice.

Local bantamweight Christian Carto, 9-0, 9 KOs, kept his knockout streak going with a TKO of sturdy Mexican Samuel Gutierrez, 14-19-5, 5 KOs, at the end of round five. Gutierrez was tough, but Carto banged away and wore him down. Carto dropped Gutierrez with a left-right combo in the fifth, but the visitor survived. However, when Gutierrez returned to his corner at the end of the round, his team stopped the fight. The official time was 3:00 of the fifth. The referee was Shawn Clark.

In a scheduled 4-round lightweight bout, Philadelphian Samuel Teah, 10-1-1, 4 KOs, stopped Florida-based Puerto Rican Efrain Cruz, 4-4-1, 1 KO, in the final round. A hard left hook staggered Cruz, and then Teah poured it on, landing numerous power shots. Finally a right uppercut put Cruz down. Referee Eric Dali stopped the bout the moment Cruz hit the canvas. The time was 1:40 of round four.

In the opening bout at the Liacouras Center on the Temple University campus in North Philly, light heavyweight David Murray, 6-1-1, 5 KOs, survived first and third round knockdowns against Sam Horowitz, 6-3-1, 5 KOs, before storming back and stopping the Chicago slugger at 1:26 of the fourth and final round. Murray, Wilmington, DE, controlled much of the action, even in the rounds he hit the floor, but due to those knockdowns was probably behind on points at the time of the exciting bout’s conclusion.