By Keith Idec

LAS VEGAS – Jose Miguel Borrego didn’t knock out his opponent for the first time in 12 fights Saturday night, and he paid for it.

Borrego hurt Juan Heraldez late in the sixth round, dropped him in the ninth round and was the aggressor throughout their 10-round welterweight fight. The 19-year-old Mexican knockout artist still lost to Heraldez on the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor undercard at T-Mobile Arena.

Judges Robert Hoyle (97-92), Tim Cheatham (97-92) and Eric Cheek (96-93) all scored the fight for Heraldez, who remained undefeated (13-0, 8 KOs) despite that he spent most of the fight moving away from the heavy-handed Borrego (13-1, 12 KOs).

The Heraldez-Borrego bout was the first of two Mayweather-McGregor undercard fights televised by FS1.

The first six rounds between Heraldez, of North Las Vegas, Nevada, and Borrego were pretty competitive. Borrego finally caught Heraldez with a left hand that buzzed him just before the end of the sixth round.

The bell sounded just seconds after Borrego blasted Heraldez with that punch, and Heraldez’s legs seemed unsteady as he walked back to his corner.

Heraldez kept his distance throughout the seventh round and avoided getting hurt again. Borrego landed two more hard left hands right around the one-minute mark of the eighth round.

A straight left hand by Borrego floored Heraldez with just under two minutes to go in the ninth round. Heraldez answered referee Jay Nady’s count and once he got up dodged and held his way to reaching the end of the round.

Before Heraldez beat Borrego, Mark Anthony Hernandez pulled off a minor upset by beating Kevin Newman by unanimous decision in a non-televised, six-round super middleweight match.

Hernandez, who was credited with a knockdown in the sixth round, won 59-54 on the scorecards of judges Lisa Giampa and Richard Ocasio. Judge John McKaie credited Hernandez with a 57-56 victory.

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