Isaac Cruz, who received the ultimate praise from Mike Tyson, defeated Angel Fierro in a thrilling war.
Cruz was fighting on the huge Premier Boxing Champions bill topped by David Benavidez’s mouth-watering clash with David Morrell at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The savage 5ft 4ins super-lightweight was looking to get back in the winning column, having lost his WBA world title by split decision to Jose Valenzuela last August.
His power-punching and relentlessly aggressive style has seen him identified by heavyweight legend Tyson, as fighting similarly to himself in his frightening prime.
All-action was promised and the showdown delivered with 1410 punches thrown by both men, who clashed in a cocktail of concussive and savage punches.
But it was Cruz who had his hand raised, as he got the edge in the sensational spectacle on the judges scorecards who saw the fight at 96-94, 97-93 and 98-92 in his favour.
From the very first bell the pair got straight into vicious exchanges, with Cruz letting his hands go and attacking Fierro in promising early output.
He didn’t take a backwards step early on tagging his rival with some big shots and trundling slowly towards him, but Fierro tried to match him toe-to-toe.
Fierro worked off the back foot looking to counter punch and looked to use his physical size advantages, but absorbed some damaging blows from Cruz in the second.
