By Jake Donovan

Daniel Rosas overcame a rough start and a determined performance from Roberto Pucheta to claim a 10-round split decision win Saturday evening in Tlalnepantla, México. 

Scores were 96-95 and 96-94 for Rosas and 96-94 in favor of Pucheta, who jumped out to a surprisingly strong start. The power surge caught Rosas off-guard, giving away the opening round and then forced to take in a lecture from his cornermen to wake up and get back into the fight. 

It took a couple of rounds for the former super flyweight and bantamweight contender to settle down. At no point did he seem truly comfortable in the ring, even when getting the better of frequent exchanges with an all-too game game Pucheta, a journeyman but one whom has never been stopped or even off of his feet as a pro. 

The middle rounds proved the most difficult to score. Rosas would enjoy a strong start but Pucheta executed his 30-second drill to perfection in several frames. This likely caused dispute among the judges, hence leading to the split decision verdict.

Pucheta expressed displeasure over the final two scores read in favor of Rosas - and perhaps for good reason. There's a case to be made that he deservd to win, instead suffering his fourth loss in the span of six fights as the 25-year old falls to 9-7 (5KOS). 

Rosas advances to 20-2-1 (12KOs) with the win, but to say he improved would be a gross misrepresentation of the past few years of his career. Once on his way to a super flyweight title shot, the 26-year old has instead grown out of two divisons that boasted his best shot at claiming a title and now seems to be just a known name with a TV-friendly style.

That combination will continue to get him fights, but doubtful it ever puts him back in title contention. 

The main event aired live on TV Azteca in Mexico and beIN Sport Español in the United States.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox