Henry Lebron and former world title challenger Christopher Diaz were originally supposed to fight in July, but Lebron was forced out of the clash due to an injury. The battle between Puerto Rican junior lightweights finally came to fruition on Saturday night, and it was Lebron (20-0, 10 KOs) who outlasted Diaz (29-5, 19 KOs) by scoring a unanimous decision win over 10 rounds.

Judges scored the contest 97-93, 97-93, 96-94.

Fighting for the first time in 13 months, Lebron never showed any signs of ring rust, using skills and stamina to nullify Diaz’s pressure. A feeling-out first round saw a total of four punches landed between the duo, but Diaz had a solid third, rocking Lebron with a hard right hand in the corner.

In a tactical move, the orthodox-fighting Diaz repeatedly pressed forward and stepped on the southpaw Lebron’s lead foot to set up his shots. However, Lebron boxed beautifully off of his back foot from corner to corner as he comfortably won the first half of the fight.

The calculated action was somewhat slow in the first four rounds, as Lebron connected with 25 of 159 shots, outlanding Diaz (14 of 89) in every round.

At the end of the fifth round, Lebron landed a hard left counter shot as the bell sounded. He walked back to his corner satisfied, looking at Diaz and nodding at him.

The action started to sizzle in the sixth, as Lebron landed a fight-high 16 of 55 while Diaz countered with 12 of 59.

Diaz had his best round of the night in the seventh, landing 19 shots, his highest connect rate of the fight.

In the closing seconds of the eighth round, a clash of heads caused a cut on Lebron’s forehead. Before the incident, Diaz again connected with a straight right.

Lebron fought with a crimson mask as blood flowed from his cut in the ninth, and even made a matador-like gesture at the charging Diaz. Diaz lost the steam he built in the ninth and tenth rounds as Lebron upped the pace again to secure the win.

Lebron connected with 89 of 449 shots while Diaz countered with 69 of 358.

The loss ended a three-fight winning streak for Diaz, who’s only other losses have come against Shakur Stevenson, Emanuel Navarrete, Isaac Dogboe, and Masayuki Ito.

The fight served as the co-main event for the bout between IBF 140-pound champion Liam Paro’s title defense against Richardson Hitchins at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Matchroom Boxing card streamed on DAZN.

In other action, “El Doctorcito” Yankiel Rivera had a statement surgical performance against Angel Gonzalez, knocking Gonzalez down three times en route to a fourth-round stoppage win in their flyweight fight.

Rivera (7-0, 3 KOs) outpunched and outclassed Gonzalez (14-1, 7 KOs) from the onset, and by the third round, serious damage started to show when Rivera floored Gonzalez with a vicious counter right hook. Gonzalez appeared dazed but survived the round – but not for long.

Rivera, 27, from Puerto Rico, clipped Gonzalez with a crisp three-punch combination in the opening minute of the fourth, immediately followed by a body shot, which forced Gonzalez to take a knee.

Moments later, a headshot rattled and floored Gonzalez once again, and referee Luis Pabon waved off the fight with Gonzalez standing at the count of five with 50 seconds left in the round.

“This fight shows that I’m ready for any champion and I’m closer to a world title,” said Rivera. “When my team believes it’s the right time, we’ll do it. We’ve put ourselves on the map.”

Starting the DAZN stream, Agustin Quintana handed Marc Castro the first loss of his professional career, as the rough and rugged Argentinian notched a split decision upset against the touted amateur turned pro who had previously beaten Keyshawn Davis and Raymond Ford multiple times each in the amateurs.

Two judges scored the fight 96-94 in favor of Quintana while a third judge had it 97-93 for Castro in the 10-round lightweight clash.

Quintana (21-2-1, 13 KOs) controlled the fight with clean, accurate, and hard punches while the volume-punching Castro (13-1, 8 KOs) leaned on pressure and pace, which ultimately did not prove to be enough.

The aggressive Fresno fighter Castro got off to a fast start but Quintana started buzzing him with his hard hook in the fourth.

It was a seesaw battle throughout, as Quintana rose to the occasion with hard counters whenever Castro charged forward.

Quintana had his best round in the eighth, clipping Castro with a combination of crushing left hooks and uppercuts. Castro survived the onslaught and never appeared hurt despite the head-rattling hits.

Quintana, 28, had fought exclusively in Argentina against unheralded competition since turning pro in 2017.

Also on the undercard:

The night of action kicked off on Matchroom Boxing’s “Before The Bell” series on YouTube, which featured a new contender for 2024 upset of the year courtesy of Jose Roman, who scored a split decision win against touted prospect Jalil Hackett in a close and competitive fight.

The 10-round welterweight contest was scored 96-94, 96-94 in favor of Roman while a third judge had it 96-94 for Hackett.

Roman (14-1, 6 KOs), a 31-year-old from Puerto Rico fighting on home soil in front of a partisan crowd, was contemplating retirement heading into the first 10-round scheduled fight of his career. The decorated amateur Hackett (9-1, 7 KOs), a former Mayweather Promotions fighter, was entering the second fight of his Matchroom Boxing deal.

The clash was mostly contested at close range. Hackett, 21, started off strong with dedicated bodywork, but it was Roman, nearly a +1100 underdog, who took control of the fight in the second half as the pace of Hackett’s attack started to diminish.

From all accounts, Hackett had a terrible time making weight on Friday, which perhaps contributed to him fading in the final rounds and allowing Roman to steal the victory.

“I left it in the judges' hands and came up short,” Hackett said on social media after the fight. “I didn’t agree with the decision but it is what it is. No robbery excuses, please! Back to the drawing board.”

Before the fight, Hackett declared he was aiming to challenge for a world title within 12 months, with his sights set on WBO 147-pound champion Brian Norman Jr. But those plans will now be delayed even further as he tries to rebuild his career in 2025.

William Ortiz (7-0, 4 KOs) scored a shutout unanimous decision victory against Lionell Colon (6-1, 3 KOs) in an eight-round junior welterweight clash between Puerto Ricans via scores of 80-72 from the judges.

Juan Zayas (11-0-1, 8 KOs) scored a unanimous decision against Geraldo Valdez (16-3, 11 KOs) in their eight-round bantamweight bout via scores of 78-73, 78-73, 77-74.

Stephanie Pineiro Aquino (8-0, 2 KOs) battered and bruised Kalindra Faria (2-3) for eight rounds and cruised to a unanimous decision win in their welterweight contest, garnering scores of 80-71 from the judges.