By Keith Idec

LAS VEGAS – Ladarius Miller took another step toward proving himself Tuesday night.

The 135-pound prospect out-boxed lightweight contender Jamel Herring to win a 10-round unanimous decision in a competitive action fight at Sam’s Town Hotel & Gambling Hall. The 24-year-old Miller (14-1, 4 KOs), who’s promoted by Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s company, has won five straight fights since suffering a six-round, unanimous-decision defeat to Rolando Chinea (15-1-1, 6 KOs) in February 2016 at Sam’s Town.

Miller was able to out-work the taller, rangier Herring to win this battle between southpaws on the scorecards of all three judges. Glenn Trowbridge scored Miller a 98-92 winner, while Robert Hoyle and Patricia Morse Jarman credited Miller with a 97-93 victory.

Miller’s win was televised by FS1 as part of a “Toe-To-Toe Tuesdays” telecast from Sam’s Town Hotel & Gambling Hall.

“I thought 97-93 was the right score,” Miller said. “I took it easy in round nine and felt him out the first two rounds. But the rest of the fight I felt like I dominated.

“I know I out-jabbed him. When we jabbed at each other, I thought my jab was stronger than his. I gave him two different styles. There were times where I walked him down and times where I boxed him.”

The 31-year-old Herring (16-2, 9 KOs), a 2012 Olympian from Coram, New York, lost for the second time in three fights. Russian lightweight contender Denis Shafikov (38-3-1, 20 KOs) stopped Herring in the 10th round of their July 2016 fight in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Herring had his moments in defeat against Miller, particularly when he landed to Miller’s body.

“I thought it was a close fight,” Herring said. “I thought when I came forward and pressed the fight, he started retreating and moving. I thought I landed some heavy shots in there and was more aggressive. Obviously, the judges saw it differently.”

Herring and Miller landed their fair share of hard punches to the body and head in an action-packed ninth round. Herring landed a hard right hand to Miller’s body just before the 30-second mark of the seventh round.

Miller drilled Herring with a straight left hand with around 20 seconds to go in the sixth round. Miller and Herring began banging away at each other in the fifth round and picked up right where they left off early in the sixth round.

On the non-televised portion of the card, Shoki Sakai beat Ashley Theophane by unanimous decision in an eight-round welterweight bout.

Sakai (23-7-1, 13 KOs), a Japanese boxer based in Mexico City, was the stronger, more active fighter throughout their bout. He defeated England’s Theophane (40-8-1, 11 KOs) by comfortable margins on all three scorecards (80-72, 79-73, 78-74).

Earlier Tuesday, AhmedMajed Mahmood remained unbeaten by scoring a six-round, unanimous-decision victory over Mexico’s Alberto Mora (12-8, 6 KOs). Mahmood, of Dearborn, Michigan, won by scores of 59-55, 59-55 and 58-56.

Also Tuesday, Las Vegas’ Cameron Kreal (12-13-1, 3 KOs) inched closer to moving his deceptive record to .500 by beating Philadelphia’s Greg Jackson (7-4-1, 2 KOs) by unanimous decision in a six-round welterweight fight. All three judges scored the fight for Kreal (60-54, 59-55, 58-56).

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