CARSON, California – No matter what he did Saturday night, Sebastian Fundora couldn’t get rid of Carlos Ocampo.

The undefeated Fundora soundly beat Ocampo on the scorecards, but their 154-pound title fight surprisingly went the 12-round distance at Dignity Health Sports Park. The 6-foot-6 southpaw out-pointed Ocampo by big margins according to judges Rudy Barragan (117-111), Daniel Fitzgerald (118-110) and Lou Moret (119-109).

The courageous Ocampo appeared tired by the middle rounds and often sloppily pursued Fundora with wide arm punches that left his head exposed. Fundora just couldn’t counter him with a shot hard enough to drop an opponent Errol Spence Jr. stopped with a body shot late in the first round four years ago.

Fundora (20-0-1, 13 KOs), of Coachella, California, successfully defended his WBC interim super welterweight title for the first time and ended Ocampo’s 12-fight winning streak in this “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event. Prior to Saturday night, Ocampo (34-2, 22 KOs) hadn’t lost since Spence stopped him in their June 2018 fight for Spence’s IBF welterweight title at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

Fundora suggested during his post-fight press conference that after fighting Ocampo mostly from a distance during the first four rounds, he grew bored by boxing and moved inside to bang it out with his durable opponent thereafter.

“I felt like the first four rounds I boxed because I wanted to not just show myself, but my father [and trainer, Freddy] and everybody else that we can box. And we’ve been doing that the whole camp – boxing, boxing, lots of range. But I felt it was moving a little bit too slow for me and I wanted to excite the fans a little bit more, you know, give ‘em their money’s worth. And we went in there, we banged, we did the normal ‘Towering Inferno’ style. And we got the fans riled up and, yeah, we got the job done.”

Fundora, whom Caesars Sportsbook listed Saturday night as a 9-1 favorite, fought for the first time since he stopped Erickson Lubin in their definite “Fight of the Year” candidate April 9 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

Ocampo commendably came out for the 12th round just as he had approached the previous 11 rounds, ready to trade with a taller, rangier opponent who preferred to trade on the inside.

Ocampo smiled when Fundora’s left rocked him with just under 55 seconds on the clock in the 11th round. Fans became restless later in the 11th round, when it appeared the stubborn Campo was determined to go the distance.

Ocampo and Fundora traded punches on the inside throughout the 10th round, but again, neither fighter affected his opponent with his shots.

With referee Jack Reiss keeping a close eye on him, Ocampo managed to make the ninth round reasonably competitive. He was more active in those three minutes than in the previous round and bout himself some more time.

Fundora and Ocampo continued to trade head shots early in the eighth round. Fundora blasted Ocampo with several consecutive power punches just after the halfway point of the eighth round, but Ocampo remained on his feet.

Ocampo and Fundora traded hard head shots throughout the middle minute of the seventh round. A right hook by Fundora landed flush with just under a minute to go in the seventh round.

Ocampo clipped Fundora with a right hand, but Fundora walked through it with about 15 seconds to go in the seventh round.

A left hand by Fundora caused Ocampo to lose his balance just before the midway mark of the sixth round. Ocampo appeared tired by that point in the fight and didn’t have as much on his punches as he did during earlier rounds.

With just under 20 seconds remaining in the sixth rounds, Fundora blasted Ocampo with a left hand that buzzed him.

Fundora’s left snapped back Ocampo’s head with 1:15 remaining in the fifth round. They spent almost all of the fifth round wrestling for position and trading short shots inside, but neither fighter hurt his opponent until Fundora’s right hook made Ocampo take an awkward step just before the fifth round ended.

Fundora’s right hook moved Ocampo about 1:10 into the fourth round. They traded and wrestled on the inside thereafter, including a right-left combination by Ocampo that landed with about one minute remaining in the fourth round.

Ocampo lunged and landed a looping left to Fundora’s jaw a little more than a minute into the third round. Ocampo connected with another left to the side of Fundora’s head with about 10 seconds on the clock in the third round.

A right-left combination by Ocampo landed to Fundora’s body early in the second round. Fundora countered Ocampo with a straight left to the middle of his face a minute into the second round.

They then traded hard shots – a left by Fundora and a right by Ocampo – less than 10 seconds later. Ocampo bled from his nose as he walked back to his corner after the second round ended.

Barely 15 seconds into their fight, Ocampo caught Fundora with a thudding right to the body that drew a reaction from the crowd. Ocampo then landed a counter left up top about a minute into the opening round.

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