Photo Credit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom.

An uninspiring contest came to an appropriately disjointed conclusion when veteran Pablo Cesar Cano damaged his ankle at the end of the eleventh round and dropped an 11-round technical decision to unbeaten welterweight Shakram Giyasov. All three judges  at the Caribe Royal resort in orlando, Florida scored the contest 109-99 for the New York-based Uzbek; but the wide scores, while a fair reflection of who landed the more consistent blows, suggest that the former amateur standout was more impressive than he was. 

To be fair, Cano (35-9-1, 25 Kos) is a cagey and experienced veteran. He stopped Zachary Ochoa in his most recent outing, and five fights and five years ago knocked out Jorge Linares in the opening round. Even so, Giyasov should reasonably have been expected to put on a better showing against an opponent four years his senior, with far more mileage on his odometer. 

The taller Giyasov looked to work from distance, keeping Cano at the end of his jab and leaving room for straight right hands, but the canny Cano repeatedly took a half-step forward, closing the distance and deploying enough upper body movement to leave the Uzbek without a clean target.  

Giyasov (15-0, 9 KOs) did look on the verge of an early stoppage in round three, when he crumpled the Mexican with a vicious body shot, but Cano deployed all his veteran savvy, spitting out his mouthpiece while on the canvas then walking slowly to a neutral corner after he rose to his feet, buying time as referee Luis Pabon walked him to his own corner for the mouthpiece to be reinserted.  

Through round six, Giyasov was clearly in control and landing the better, cleaner blows, but it was far from a highlight reel performance, with the most notable moments outside of the knockdown, being the warnings administered to Cano for low blows.  By round nine, Cano was actually starting to look comfortable and could have been awarded a knockdown of his own. A left hook in close caught Giyasov and caused him to stumble forward, but the follow-up punch from the Mexican was a right hand that cuffed his opponent around the back of the head and sent him to the canvas, prompting Pabon to rule it a push.  

In the eleventh, a Cano left hand at the bell as the two men grappled led to both men stumbling while in a clinch. Cano fell backward and bent his right ankle badly as he did so, prompting an early look at the scorecards. 

The win places Giyasov in line for a shot at WBA titlist Eimantis Stanionis.