By Jake Donovan

Ricardo Rodriguez turned in perhaps the best performance of his young career to date, cruising past Philadelphia's Miguel Cartageña in their 10-round super flyweight bout Friday evening in Palm Bay, Florida. 

Scores were 99-90 (twice) 98-91 in favor of Rodriguez in the 2016 spring season premiere of Boxeo Telemundo. 

Cartageña - fighting on Telemundo for the first time in his young career - had the right idea early on, using lateral movement in his best effort to turn a fight into a boxing match. It worked well for the first round or so, but only until Rodriguez figured out a way to cut off the ring and force the Boricua to stand and trade. 

The fight was only competitive in spots from that point onward, as Cartageña struggled to keep pace with the 26-year old from Mexico City. 

A knockout ending seemed apparent after Cartageña was decked by a hard left hook late in round six. Rodriguez moved in to close the show, but ran out of time in the round.

Rodriguez carried over the momentum into a brutal round seven, but one where Cartageña was able to buy some time the hard way - recovering from a low blow. He made sure to use every bit of the allotted five-minute recovery period before returning to action.  

The sequence only allowed the 23-year old prospect to last the distance rather than suffering the third knockout loss of his career, though at least holding his own in the final three rounds. His body language at fight's end didn't suggest that of a fighter accepting a moral victory, but rather one who knew he's turned in better nights at the office. 

Rodriguez improves - in every sense of the word - to 13-3 (4KOs), shining in what served as his sixth consecutive Telemundo-televised performance. 

Cartageña heads back to Philadelphia with his record falling to 14-3 (5KOs). All three defeats have come in his past five fights.

TV UNDERCARD

Oldier Landin couldn't have found a better way to break up a two-fight winless streak as he flattened Kissimmee's Alex Roman (4-2, 0KOs) inside of four rounds. 

A fairly competitive fight through three rounds ended in an instant, when Landin (4-1-1-1NC, 4KOs) connected with a long right hand to put Roman down and out late in round four. The bout marked Landin's first in the United States, with the Cuban export having fought exclusively in Panama prior to Friday evening.

Michael Davis (2-0, 1KOs) picked up his second win in less than two weeks, as the 23-year old rookie from Daytona pummeled Daniel Rodriguez into submission in three rounds. A flurry of punches late in round three had Rodriguez (2-14-1, 1KO) on the defensive, leaving the referee no choice but to halt the contest. 

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox