By Thomas Gerbasi

Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York - WBA featherweight champion Jesus Cuellar was forced to go the distance for the first time since May of 2014, but that didn’t stop him from picking up his 11th consecutive win in the co-main event, as he scored a clear-cut 12-round unanimous decision over Jonathan Oquendo.

Scores were 116-111 twice and 120-107.

There wasn’t too much significant scoring from either man in the first three rounds, but Cuellar’s steady pressure was rapidly allowing him to break down Oquendo – who didn’t have the firepower or the accurate punching to keep the Argentinean at bay.

In the fourth, Cuellar scored a knockdown, though it was more of a trip, so it had little effect on Oquendo, who got up immediately and protested the call.

The extra point lost on the scorecards didn’t produce any added sense of urgency to Oquendo’s attack, and the pattern of the previous rounds remained – Cuellar stalking and banging on the inside, Qquendo game, but outgunned.

In the eighth, Cuellar upped his work rate and looked to be lowering the boom as he landed several hard shots, but after Oquendo survived, it was back to a workmanlike attack that the Puerto Rican had occasional success with, but not enough to turn the tide and get into the fight.

With the win, Buenos Aires’ Cuellar moves to 28-1 with 21 KOs. Vega Alta’s Oquendo falls to 26-5 with 16 KOs.