Eduardo Baez looked relieved when the final bell rang Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Jose Vivas never stopped pressuring him in their 10-round featherweight bout between Mexican veterans, but Baez boxed well off his back foot, consistently connected to Vivas’ head and body and won a majority decision at Resorts World Las Vegas. Judges Glenn Feldman (98-92) and Patricia Morse Jarman (96-94) scored their action-packed fight for Baez (21-2-2, 7 KOs) and overruled judge Max De Luca, who scored their bout a draw (95-95).

Baez won in ESPN’s co-feature before former WBC super featherweight champ Miguel Berchelt and Jeremiah Nakathila met in the 10-round main event.

Mexicali’s Baez bounced back from a closely contested, 10-round, majority-decision defeat to American 122-pound contender Ra’eese Aleem on November 27 in Las Vegas. Aleem (19-0, 12 KOs) beat Baez by scores of 98-92, 96-94 and 95-95 at Park MGM’s Dolby Live.

Baez also ended Vivas’ four-fight winning streak. Before Saturday night, Texcoco’s Vivas (21-2, 11 KOs) hadn’t lost since former championship challenger Ruben Villa (18-1, 5 KOs) defeated him by unanimous decision in a 10-rounder in September 2019 in Midland, Texas.

Vivas got good extension on a right hand that backed Baez into the ropes just before the halfway point of the 10th round.

A fatigued Baez pot-shotted Vivas for much of the ninth round. He wasn’t as active in the ninth round as prior rounds, but he still out-landed Vivas.

Baez established distance with his jab at times in the eighth round. He made Vivas miss with many of his punches in the eighth round as well.

Baez unloaded a five-punch combination on Vivas with just over 20 seconds to go in the seventh round. Vivas was the aggressor again in that round, but Baez was more active and accurate.

Vivas effectively pressured Baez better in the sixth round than he had in the previous few rounds. He landed more head shots during those three minutes and mounted some momentum.

Baez boxed well off his back foot throughout the fifth round, in which he continually caught an aggressive Vivas with clean punches to his head and body while moving backward. Baez connected with three straight rights to Vivas’ head with just under 30 seconds on the clock in the fifth round.

Baez did his best to fend off Vivas during the fourth round. He consistently landed body and head shots, but he couldn’t keep the determined Vivas off his chest.

Vivas continued pressuring Vivas throughout the third round and landed various punches to the backtracking Baez’s head and body.

They picked up in the second round right where they left off in a fast-paced opening round. Baez was effective with his left to the body in the second round, but Vivas applied pressure and did solid work when he backed Baez into the ropes during the middle minute of the second round.

Vivas and Baez established a blistering pace immediately in the first round. Both boxers landed hard shots to his opponent’s head and body during those three minutes, though neither fighter appeared to hurt the other.

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