Once the evenly matched fight got underway Saturday night at Honda Center, the script unfolded according to plan, but it was Barboza (33-1, 11 KOs) who emerged as the winner by clearly outboxing Sims (22-4, 8 KOs) in a competitive fight featuring a pair of fundamentally sound and effective technicians.

Judges scored it 120-108, 118-110 and 117-111 in favor of Barboza, a former 140-pound titleholder who was making his 147-pound debut.

Although Barboza didn’t outright dominate the cagey clash, he comfortably banked rounds, picked up the pace and separated himself as the fencing match played on a somewhat similar speed for 12 rounds.

Barboza and Sims came in with a combined 35% knockout ratio, and it was evident from the opening round that a stoppage wouldn’t be in store for either fighter. Whoever got off first was going to have the edge.

Barboza proved to be more active and accurate with his output by beating Sims to the punch with his jab and mixing it up in and out of range with power punches as needed.

The disciplined and much sharper Barboza landed 211 of 752 shots while Sims connected with 133 of 534 punches, according to unofficial punch stats provided by CompuBox.

“Sims is a tricky and smart fighter, but we had the right gameplan,” said Barboza. “My body was due to move up. I felt like I could fight 10 more rounds.”

Barboza and Sims came into crossroads contest coming off decision losses, the former to Teofimo Lopez in May and the latter to Oscar Duarte in August.

With the win in his backyard, Barboza, a 34-year-old from El Monte, California, hopes to position himself for a summer showdown, specifically against Golden Boy stablemate Ryan Garcia, the WBC welterweight champion.

“I want all of the champions,” he said.

As Barboza also called out Devin Haney, Rolando Romero and Lewis Crocker, welterweight contender Alexis Rocha, who beat Diaz on the undercard, stepped inside the ring. He challenged Barboza to a bout.

Barboza obliged and shook his hand in agreement.

Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan