By Francisco Salazar

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Lightweight Kevin Rivers Jr. won a six round unanimous decision over Roberto Pucheta at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel.

Rivers improves to 14-1, with 10 KOs, while Pucheta falls to 10-11-1, with 6 KOs.

Rivers was a hot prospect in the Golden Boy Promotions stable before being losing to journeyman Alejandro Ochoa in October of 2015. Rivers was dropped twice in the bout.

The 26-year-old Rivers returned to the ring in March of last year, but has not fought since.

Pucheta entered Wednesday's bout having lost five of his previous six bouts.

Rivers utilized his athleticism and speed to outbox Pucheta. Undaunted, Pucheta found success getting on the inside of Rivers' guard, connecting with right hands to the head.

At times, Rivers was not effective when he fought in spurts. When he was committed to throwing exchanges, Rivers dominated the action, outboxig Pucheta with two-three punch combinations.

Scores were 60-54, 59-55, and 58-56 for Rivers.

18-year-old Luis Coria (4-0, with 3 KOs) won a four round unanimous decision over tough Antonio Martinez. Coria, who is a senior at a high school in Indio, California, hurt Martinez with a right-left combination to the head in the opening round. Coria stunned Martinez (7-10, with 5 KOs) with a right hand in round two and tried to load up with one punch during these sequences, sometimes missing wildly. Martinez looked outgunned, but kept Coria honest by landing an occasional right hand to head or body of Coria. All three judges scored the bout 40-36 in favor of Coria.

In middleweight action, Marvin Cabrera (4-0, with 4 KOs) won by knockout when Quantavious Green was not able to continue after the fourth round. The southpaw Cabrera began letting his hands go in round three, landing a series of combinations to the head of Green (1-1, with 1 KO), who began to breath heavily during round four.

Cabrera was consistent in landing left hands to the face of Green, eventually finishing the fourth round with right hooks to the body. After the fourth round, Green told referee Thomas Taylor he would not be able to continue, claiming he was unable to see out of his left eye.

In the opening bout of the Golden Boy Promotions card, junior welterweight Alfredo Escarcega Jr. dropped Rolando Padilla twice en route to a four round unanimous decision victory. The southpaw Escarcega dropped Padilla (0-2) with a counter left hand to the head. Escarcega dropped Padilla again in round three, this time with a left cross to Padilla's head. The longer the bout progressed, the less Padilla wanted to exchange, looking to hold onto Escarcega until the final bell sounded. All three judges scored the bout 40-34 in favor of Escarcega, who improves to 2-0.

The fight card was held in conjunction with the 8th annual 'Big Fighters, Big Cause' charity boxing event, presented by B. Riley & Company. Proceeds from live and silent auctions benefitted the Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation, which strives to fund life-changing research, care and awareness for pediatric type 1 & 2 diabetes and to help children live healthier lives through diet and exercise. 

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