By Keith Idec

Thomas Patrick Ward made an impressive United States debut Friday night.

The British junior featherweight was better than American Jesse Hernandez in every phase of boxing and remained unbeaten by scoring a unanimous-decision victory over Hernandez in Mulvane, Kansas. The 24-year-old Ward (26-0), of West Rainton, England, has just four knockouts, but he dropped Hernandez late in the fourth round, landed numerous short, straight shots and completely controlled the action in a one-sided fight.

Judges Mike Contreras (98-90), Karen Holderfield (99-90) and David Sutherland (100-89) scored eight, nine and 10 rounds for Ward, respectively.

Ward’s win was televised by Showtime as the opener of a “ShoBox: The New Generation” doubleheader from Kansas Star Arena. The 28-year-old Hernandez, of Fort Worth, Texas, lost for the second time as a pro (12-2, 7 KOs, 1 NC).

Hernandez kept trying for the knockout he desperately needed to during the 10th round, but he couldn’t land anything to change the course of their fight. An aggressive Ward went for the knockout toward the end of the ninth round, which caused an entertaining exchange when Hernandez was backed against the ropes.

Ward picked apart Hernandez during the seventh and eighth rounds, which concerned Clancy. He asked a ringside physician to examine Hernandez before the ninth round began and told Hernandez he was “on a real short leash.”

Ward beat up Hernandez enough throughout the sixth round that Clancy came to Hernandez’s corner once it ended to warn him that the fight would be stopped if Hernandez did “show” him “something.”

Hungry to finish Hernandez after flooring him at the end of the fourth round, Ward went after Hernandez’s body early in the fifth round. He also had success with his right hand to Hernandez’s head.

A right hand by Ward backed Hernandez into the ropes with about 25 seconds to go in the fifth.

After a competitive third round that could’ve gone either way, Ward pressed the action at the start of the fourth round and backed up Hernandez. He landed multiple right hands up top and connected to Hernandez’s body several times in that round.

Ward then uncorked a counter left hook that dropped Hernandez with nine seconds to go in the round. Hernandez quickly got to this feet and the round ended almost immediately thereafter.

Hernandez, a southpaw, fought the entire first round from a right-handed stance. He opened up the second round back in his usual left-handed stance, yet he couldn’t catch up to Ward, who hit him frequently enough to win the round and most remained out of Hernandez’s punching range.

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