By Chris Cozzone & Gerardo Martinez at ringside

In a great fight, WBA #1/IBF #5 super bantamweight, WBO #3 featherweight Antonio Escalante (23-2 14 KOs) hammered out a hard fought ten round unanimous decision over rugged Mickey Roman (28-7, 20 KOs) in a featherweight turf war on Friday night at the Don Haskins Convention Center in El Paso, Texas. Escalante and Roman resumed their childhood fistfight with great fury from the opening bell. Roman relentlessly pressured the more mobile Escalante and both boxers landed big shots during vicious exchanges as the rounds progressed. Escalante finally dropped Roman with a barrage of punches in round eight. Roman stormed back in round nine, but Escalante took in the final round to win a 97-92, 96-93, 96-93 nod.
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Unbeaten junior welterweight prospect Danny Garcia (16-0, 10 KOs) won a close ten round split decision over Ashley Theophane (25-4-1, 7 KOs). Scores were 95-94, 96-94 Garcia, 95-94 Theophane. Garcia was deducted a point in round nine for a low blow.
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In off-TV bouts, Las Vegas lightweight Sharif Bogere (14-0, 8 KOs) scored a third round TKO (:44) over Jose Hernandez (10-2, 4 KOs); Chihuahua welterweight Luis Enriquez Grajeda (9-0, 7 KOs) won a four-round unanimous decision over Osvaldo Rojas (6-2-1, 2 KOs), of Los Angeles; El Paso jr. welter Saul Morales (8-1, 4 KOs) TKO’d Juarez’s Julian Rodriguez (17-18-4, 11 KOs) at 1:19 of round two; and El Paso heavyweight Augustine Bautista (1-0-) barely won his debut with a split decision over Chad Johnson (0-2) of Oklahoma. Stay tuned for a full report and giant gallery tomorrow.