By Francisco Salazar

Junior bantamweight contender Miguel Gonzalez defeated Yader Cardoza by unanimous decision over 11 rounds late Saturday night at the Gran Arena Monticello in San Francisco de Mostazal, Chile.

With the win, Gonzalez successfully defended his regional title belt.

Gonzalez, who resides in the Chilean capital of Santiago, was the more effective fighter throughout the bout, utilizing his speed and accuracy to outland Cardoza.

Scores were 109.5-102, 109.5-101.5, and 108-101 for Gonzalez, who improves to 29-1, 6 knockouts.

Saturday night marked the third time Gonzalez fought in 2018 after only fighting once in 2017.

Gonzalez, who has now won his last 12 bouts, is ranked number three by the WBA.

Cardoza, who resides in Managua, Nicaragua, drops to 23-14-1, 7 KOs. He has now lost five of his last seven bouts.

Featherweight Cristian Palma (29-10-1, 7 KOs) won a one-sided eight round decision over Uruguay's Martin Severo. All three judges scored the bout 80-71 in favor of Palma.

Fringe junior bantamweight contender Jose Velasquez (22-6-2, 15 KOs) of Quellon, Chile knocked out Luis Singo (20-15-2, 9 KOs) of Ecuador at 20 seconds of rounds three.

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. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing