At the Sala Urbana in Mexico City on Saturday, junior welterweights Jimerr Espinosa and Rogelio Jimenez went to war over a sensational 10 rounds – yet could not produce a victor. They did, however, produce an all-Mexican action fight for a thrilled home crowd.

Jimenez dropped Espinosa twice, once from a clean left hook and again from a glancing blow to the shoulder that might have been less responsible for the knockdown than a loss of footing, but Espinosa was more active and reliable in landing big shots.

Neither fighter seemed all that offended by the official draw, which was scored 95-93 once for each fighter and 94-94. Mutual respect reigned after the final bell. Given the violence of the 10 rounds that preceded it, there was no wonder.

Espinosa, the visibly bigger fighter, attacked the body early. Jimenez managed to break the distance, bursting forward with a left and a right in the opening round and forcing Espinosa to clinch.

At the end of the second round, one of the more uneventful frames, Espinosa evaded Jimenez’s wild attacks and landed a few clean blows, stamping his authority on the bout.

In the fourth round, Espinosa was peppering Jimenez along the ropes, seemingly unopposed. Jimenez seized on Espinosa’s complacency and floored him with a sudden, vicious left hook. Espinosa made it to his feet and survived the round with relative comfort, no easy feat given the heaviness of the knockdown.

Espinosa resumed his body attack in the sixth and landed at will for much of the frame, scoring with straight punches through Jimenez's guard. Both men were now targeting the body with aplomb, mixing in brutal uppercuts to the chest alongside the more common hooks to the sides. Jimenez closed the round by staggering Espinosa with a left hook, fast becoming his money punch.

A clubbing right hand decked Espinosa again in the seventh, though replay indicated that the punch glanced off his shoulder before striking the head, throwing him off balance. 

Espinosa held frequently in the championship rounds, but he consistently landed power-punch combinations and outworked Jimenez. Espinosa never stopped throwing, even while hurt, whereas Jimenez was less active but more hurtful.

Jimenez, 24, moved to 13-1-1 (9 KOs), and the 26-year-old Espinosa to 16-2-1 (15 KOs), with neither fighter losing any luster in the absence of victory. Any viewer of the battle would sign up to see them again.

The co-main event, by contrast, ended rapidly and abruptly. Fernando Romero, 12-2 (11 KOs), and the 17-0 (12 KOs) Ibran Retamozo squared off at junior lightweight.

Romero swarmed early, though he didn't land anything of consequence. Soon enough, the 27-year-old Retamozo was popping Romero with his faster hands against the ropes. Romero was loath to throw back as Retamozo flurried, so the bout was waved off – a surprising decision in the moment, though one validated by the replay.

Romero, 24, fell to 12-3 (11 KOs) as the surely elated Retamozo improved to 18-0 (13 KOs). In a move rivaling Roger Federer arriving to the 2009 Wimbledon final with a jacket commemorating his victory already in his bag, Retamozo slipped into a shirt reading “18-0” within minutes of the stoppage.

The undercard was stacked with more fighters from Mexico. Many of the pairings’ combined age fell a decade (or even two) short of a certain once-retired former heavyweight champion who was allowed into the ring Friday night. A few of the highlights:

The opening fight on the card forecast the co-main event. Angel Garcia floored Andy Becerra with a straight right, and Becerra waited just a second too long to get up, inviting the stoppage.

Lazaro Medina, 18, dispatched Eduardo Ramos, 16 years his senior, with a sledgehammer right hook to the point of the chin. Ramos was laid out, still resting on his back as he received medical treatment – if in a better state than just after the punch landed – when the fighters exchanged kind words afterwards. Ramos was eventually taken away on a stretcher. The finish came in the third round of a scheduled four, between junior middleweights. Medina, 1-0 (1 KO) could scarcely have made a better pro debut, and Ramos fell to 2-4 (1 KO).

Junior flyweights Regina Chavez and Madeline Sarmiento went to war in a six-rounder. The wide scores for Chavez didn’t do justice to what a grueling battle it was.

Top to bottom, the body work on this card was fantastic. The most brutal shot to the midsection came from Sergio Cordova, who put his entire frame into a left hook that utterly folded Carlos Garcia less than a minute into their fight. Ariel Gonzalez also stopped Eduardo Cortes with a body shot. But every fighter made it a priority to attack the body alongside the head, making this card entertaining from the start.