Cesar Francis (12-1, 7 KOs) tasted defeat for the first time in his career, when he was shocked by heavy underdog Jesus Saracho (13-1, 11 KOs), who came away with a ten round unanimous decision win in Plant City, Florida.

The judges saw it 96-94, 96-94 and 98-92.

Francis, who was ranked in the top ten by the WBO at 140-pounds, started well, but then he seemed to get outworked as the fight played out. Francis closed well in the tenth round - but it was too late to turn the tide as Saracho was well ahead when the final bell rang.

Francis is coming off the back of a solid year in 2022. He picked up wins over former world champions Mohammed Mimoune, Raymundo Beltran and also produced a big knockout against Francisco Armenta. 

He was hoping to land the winner of the upcoming crossroads fight between Jose Pedraza and Arnold Barboza. 

The co-featured attraction saw super featherweight prospect Oscar Alvarez (8-0, 7 KOs) continue his unbeaten run with seven round technical decision over Nicolas Polanco (20-4-1, 11 KOs).

There was an accidental clash of heads in the seventh, which led to the fight being stopped when Alvarez sustained a bad cut around his left eye. The scores were 68-65, 68-65 and 70-63.