By Keith Idec

PHILADELPHIA – Keita Obara absorbed a lot of punches Saturday night.

By the time his 12-round welterweight fight against Kudratillo Abdukakhorov ended, no one inside 2300 Arena reasonably could’ve questioned Obara’s toughness. There was little doubt about who won their fight, either.

Uzbekistan’s Abdukakhorov hurt Obara numerous times to his head and body, and comfortably beat him. Obara often fired back hard shots of his own, just when it looked like Abdukakhorov would knock him out, but he clearly lost.

All three judges still scored their fight for Abdukakhorov on the non-televised portion of the Oleksandr Gvozdyk-Doudou Ngumbu undercard.

Julie Lederman scored 10 rounds for Abdukakhorov (118-110). Kevin Morgan gave him nine rounds (117-111) and Ron McNair had it closer (115-113).

Abdukakhorov, 25, moved to 16-0. Tokyo’s Obara, 32, lost for the second time in his past three fights (20-4-1, 18 KOs).

In the first fight on the 11-bout card, heavyweight prospect Cassius Chaney knocked down Christian Mariscal twice in the first round and stopped him 2:16 into their scheduled six-rounder.

A right hand by Chaney knocked Mariscal into the ropes and then to the canvas about 1:10 into their fight. The 5-feet-10, 248½-pound Mariscal made it to his feet, but Chaney continued hitting him with hard shots.

Another right hand by Chaney sent Mariscal to the canvas again. Mariscal managed to make it to his feet a second time, but referee Gary Rosato decided a discombobulated Mariscal shouldn’t continue.

The 31-year-old Chaney, of New London, Connecticut, improved to 15-0 and produced his ninth knockout. The 38-year-old Mariscal, of Tijuana, Mexico, slipped to 12-3 (5 KOs).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.