Unbeaten junior bantamweight David Cuellar is beginning to knock on the door to face the elite fighters in the division.

Cuellar defeated Francisco Mendivil by unanimous decision Friday night at the Flamingo Cancun Resort in Cancun, Mexico. No official scores were announced after the fight.

The 21-year-old Cuellar, who resides in Queretaro, Mexico, improved to 24-0, 16 knockouts. He is currently ranked amongst the 11 in all of boxing’s sanctioning bodies. 

Cuellar was the more-effective fighter throughout much of the fight, but Mendivil was effective in spots, landing counter hooks and right crosses to the head of Cuellar.

As the bout progressed into the second half, Cuellar began to assert himself as Mendivil looked gas at times, engaging less with Cuellar and looking to outbox from distance. Cuellar pressed the action as Mendivil’s punch output dropped significantly.

Cuellar’s win Friday night snapped a string of eight consecutive knockout victories. Amongst those wins was the knockout of former world titleholder Moises Fuentes in October 2021. Fuentes would pass away days later from the impact of the punches and his head hitting the canvas.

Cuellar is promoted by Promociones del Pueblo. 

Mendivil, who resides in Tijuana, Mexico, drops to 9-7-2, 8 KOs. He was unbeaten in his previous three fights.

In the main event, strawweight Luis Castillo of Los Mochis, Mexico remained unbeaten, knocking out South Africa’s Ayanda Ndulani in the fourth round. 

Castillo (21-0-1, 14 KOs) becomes the mandatory challenger to face WBC titleholder Petchmanee CP Freshmart of Thailand.

Ndulani falls to 13-3-1, 4 KOs.

Fringe junior featherweight contender Bryan Mercado of Mexico City improved to 26-1, 21 KOs, stopping Mexico’s Lamberto Macias (16-9-1, 12 KOs) in the opening round. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene.com since September 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing