LAS VEGAS – Bryant Perrella wore a turquoise, sequined suit jacket into the ring Saturday night, but he didn’t exactly out-class prospect Kevin Salgado.

Mexico City’s Salgado dealt well enough with Perrella’s awkwardness and skill in what was a step up in class for the 24-year-old junior middleweight to earn a 10-round split draw with the veteran southpaw in the opener of Showtime’s tripleheader from Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Judge John McKaie (97-93) favored Perrella’s jab and counter-punching, but judge David Sutherland (96-94) seemingly favored Salgado’s aggression and body punching.

Judge Steve Weisfeld scored their competitive clash a draw, 95-95.

Perrella (17-3-2, 14 KOs), a southpaw from Fort Myers, Florida, settled for a second straight controversial spilt draw. He and former WBC super welterweight champion Tony Harrison boxed to a 12-round split draw nearly a year ago in Los Angeles.

Salgado (14-0-1, 9 KOs), a younger brother of former 130-pound champion Juan Carlos Salgado, wasn’t overly impressive in his U.S. debut 5½ years after he turned pro.

The 33-year-old Perrella, who is trained by legendary four-division champion Roy Jones Jr., worked well off his jab at times. He also shocked Salgado with a left uppercut in the final minute of the fifth round.

It still wasn’t enough to convince more than one judge that he won.

With the outcome seemingly on the table, Perrella performed cautiously yet well during the 10th and final round. Salgado had more difficulty landing clean shots in that

Perrella nailed Salgado with a left hand a little less than 50 seconds into the ninth round. With about 1:15 to go in the ninth round, Salgado landed a left hook as Perrella attempted to move away from him.

Salgado also clipped Perrella with a left hook to his head just before the bell sounded to end the ninth round.

Neither Perrella nor Salgado landed many flush punches during the eighth round. Salgado did catch Perrella with a right hand to his head as Perrella pulled out of an exchange with approximately 10 seconds to go in that eighth round.

Salgado’s hard right hands to the body were effective early in the seventh round. He also clipped Perrella with a right hand up top toward the end of the seventh round.

Salgado landed a right hand to the body 45 seconds into the sixth round, which made Perrella retreat. Salgado later landed a left to Perrella’s body during an exchange that occurred with approximately 30 seconds to go in the sixth round.

A sharp Perrella landed two right hooks, one just before the midway mark of the fifth round and another just after it.

A left uppercut by Perrella stunned Salgado and made him stumble backward with about 50 seconds on the clock in the fifth round. That hard shot bloodied Salgado’s nose.

Perrella partially blocked Salgado’s thudding right hand 1:15 into the fourth round, but that shot showed Salgado had the much heavier hands. Salgado countered Perrella with a right hand when there were about 30 seconds on the clock in the fourth round.

Salgado connected with a right hand to Perrella’s jaw just before the midway mark of the third round. A stiff jab by Perrella caught Salgado with about 10 seconds remaining in the third round.

Perrella’s jab was an effective weapon throughout that third round.

Perrella attempted his best to jab and get to Salgado’s body during the second round, but he wasn’t exactly accurate. Salgado blasted Perrella with a right hand to his chest that got the southpaw’s attention with about 30 seconds to go in the second round.

Salgado seemed to win a tactical first round because he landed a stiff jab and a right to the body that made Perrella retreat.

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