Carson, CA – Antonio Tarver kept his IBO cruiserweight title, but not the way he wanted to Saturday night.
Tarver (29-6-1) had his bout against Lateef Kayode (18-0-1) scored a draw. Two judges scored the bout 115-113, one in favor of Tarver and another for Kayode. Judge Dave Moretti had it 114-114.
Tarver clearly won the middle rounds and seemed to hurt Kayode with a left in the eighth round. The 43-year-old Tarver pounded away in the ninth, but couldn't finish the job.
On the undercard, Leo Santa Cruz captured the vacant IBF bantamweight title with a dominating 12-round decision over Vusi Malinga. The scores were 120-108 from two judges and 119-109 from the other.
The 23-year-old Santa Cruz (20-0-1) threw 1,350 punches and landed 30 percent of them, while the 32-year-old Malinga (20-4-1) couldn't sustain any offense during the bout.
The title was vacated by Abner Mares, who moved up in weight class and beat Eric Morel in April for the vacant WBC super bantamweight title.
Peter Quillin upended Ronald "Winky" Wright by winning a 10-round unanimous decision in a middleweight fight. Quillin used a straight right hand to send Wright to the canvas in the fifth round and won by a wide margin at the end.
