Nineteen-year-old middleweight contender Elijah Garcia survived a slow start to defeat Kevin Salgado by a unanimous decision in a 10-round bout on the Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia card Saturday in Las Vegas.
The official scores were 97-92, 97-92 and 95-94. Boxing Junkie scored it 96-93, six rounds to four.
Salgado (15-2-1, 10 KOs) got off to a strong start, outworking a relatively inactive Garcia (15-0, 12 KOs) in the first three rounds, mostly with hard, accurate body shots.
However, Garcia began pick up his pace in Round 4 and controlled the rest of the fight to pull away on the cards.
The southpaw did it both from outside, following his jab with stinging straight lefts. And he also did on the inside, landing quick two-, three-punch combinations.
Salgado lost a point in Round 7 because of repeated low blows but that factor into the decision.
“I was standing a little too still trying to fight on the inside,” Garcia said of his slow start. “Salgado is a tough opponent. He was real tough, real strong and I just had to move and box a little bit.
“Other than that, It was a good, hard 10 rounds. I give my opponent 100 percent props.”
Garcia, who turned 20 on Wednesday, was taking part in his second scheduled 10-rounder. And it was the first time he fought beyond the sixth round.