Jeffrey Torres took their fight to Antonio Moran at times Friday night, but Moran fended off his younger, strong opponent.

Mexico’s Moran won an eight-round unanimous decision in the opener of ProBox TV’s “Last Chance Tournament” in the 140-pound division. Judges Joanne Richard (79-73), James O’Connor (77-75) and Tito Wilgo (77-75) all scored their competitive contest for Moran at ProBox Events Center in Plant City, Florida.

Moran (27-5-1, 19 KOs) bounced back from a 10-round, unanimous-decision defeat to unbeaten Arnold Barboza Jr. last August 14 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Philadelphia’s Torres (10-2, 6 KOs) boxed beyond the sixth round for the first time in 12 professional fights.

Torres tried to press the action in the eighth and final round. Moran made him pay at times with right hands and body shots.

A left hook by Torres knocked Moran into the ropes with just under 15 seconds to go before the final bell. Torres thought he hurt Moran, but he couldn’t capitalize during that sequence.

An aggressive Moran went after Torres as soon as the seventh round started and continued to throw hard shots at Torres’ head and body throughout that three-minute period.

Moran countered Torres with a right hand about 1:20 into the sixth round. Torres seemed to buzz Moran with back-to-back right hands just inside the 50-second mark of the sixth round.

Moran went to Torres’ body well during the fifth round. He also landed a right to Torres’ head with about 25 seconds to go in the fifth round.

Torres snapped Moran’s head back with a right hand that landed just after the 10-second warning to end the fifth round.

Torres landed an overhand right with about 1:10 to go in the fourth round. A left to the body by Torres moved Moran into the ropes approximately 40 seconds later.

Moran caught Torres with two hard right hands in the final 15 seconds of the fourth round, but Torres countered with hard head and body shots.

Moran landed a thudding right to Torres’ body with about 40 seconds on the clock in the third round. Torres drilled Moran with a right up top about 10 seconds later.

Torres connected with an overhand right about 1:10 into the second round. Another right hand by Torres landed with just under 45 seconds to go in the second round.

Torres landed a counter left hook just before the halfway point of the first round. Moran was the more accurate puncher for most of the first round, though, when Torres lunged and missed with many of his shots.

In the bout before Moran’ victory, junior welterweight prospect Jusiyah Shirley easily out-pointed Miguel Aispuro in their six-round bout.

The 21-year-old Shirley went the distance for the first time in five professional fights, but he won by the same wide margin, 60-53, on all three scorecards. Shirley (5-0, 4 KOs), of Orlando, Florida, mostly hammered away at Mexico’s Aispuro (12-13-2, 8 KOs) with hard punches for six rounds, but he couldn’t send Aispuro to the canvas.

Aispuro had a point deducted for a low blow during the third round.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.