MERCITO GESTA beat American Joseph Diaz via split decision in a non-title 10-round lightweight bout on Sunday at the campus of California State University in Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California.
Gesta, 35, fought impressively and got the nod of judges Alejandro Rochin’s 99-91 and Pat Russell’s 98-92 but not Pam Hayashid who saw the fight 97-93 for Diaz, who couldn’t handle Gesta’s long jabs during later rounds.
Gesta, who was born in Mandaue, Cebu, improved his win-loss-draw record to 34-3-3 with 17 knockouts while Diaz dropped to his third straight defeat for a 32-4-1 record with 15 knockouts.
Marvin Somodio, assistant of trainer Freddie Roach, told Gesta to rely more on his jabs and head movements to annihilate Diaz during the fight broadcasted by the DAZN group.
Despite Diaz’s aggressive approach, Gesta landed accurate power shots in most rounds.