Upset in Carson: Darius Fulghum Hands Diego Pacheco His First Loss as Olascuaga and Adames Win on a Busy Boxing Saturday

Saturday night delivered one of the biggest boxing upsets of the fall in Southern California, along with hard-earned wins for two established names on opposite sides of the world.

At Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., Darius Fulghum won a 12-round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Diego Pacheco in the super middleweight main event. Judges Jack Reiss and Fernando Villarreal scored it 115-112 and Pam Hayashida had it 114-113, all for Fulghum, according to Ring Magazine. The win earned Fulghum the WBC Silver and WBO International super middleweight belts.

The result upended Pacheco's plans. The 25-year-old Los Angeles native entered the night at 26-0 with 19 knockouts, while the 30-year-old Fulghum, from El Paso, Texas, came in at 15-1-1 with 13 knockouts and with a narrow loss and a draw among his previous three fights. Yahoo Sports said the upset derailed a potential showdown between Pacheco and Canelo Alvarez, and Ring Magazine called it a career-changing points win for an improved Fulghum.

On the same Carson card, WBO flyweight champion Anthony Olascuaga kept his title against Colombian challenger Yuberjen Martinez, a former Olympian, winning on the scorecards after dropping Martinez late in the 12th and final round, Fightnews reported. The outlet described the challenger as tough and the win as an edge rather than a runaway.

There was drama before the finish. In the eighth round, Olascuaga appeared to put Martinez down with body shots, but referee Thomas Taylor ruled it a slip. Martinez entered the fight unbeaten as a professional, so Saturday handed him his first loss.

Earlier Saturday, at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames won a 10-round unanimous decision over Gerome Warburton of Wales in his Zuffa Boxing debut. The judges scored it 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92, and the win lifted Adames to 26-1-1. The fight was held at a 165-pound catchweight, so his title was not on the line.

It was not a slugfest. Warburton, a southpaw, spent much of the night moving around the outside of the ring, and Adames answered by going to the body whenever he closed the distance, Boxing247 reported, describing a night in which the champion spent most of his time chasing his opponent.

The real surprise in Riyadh came on the preliminary card, where Alexander Castro upset heavily favored Radzhab Butaev by majority decision over 10 rounds at middleweight, with cards of 97-93, 96-94 and 95-95. In the co-feature, Jason Moloney won a unanimous decision over Andres Teran.

There is a lesson in Carson for every young fighter coming up. Fulghum walked in with a loss and a draw in recent memory, and plenty of people saw him as a stepping stone for a rising star. Instead he showed up better, prepared and hungry, and he walked out with belts around his waist. That is the beauty of this sport: the record does not fight, the man does.

For Pacheco, a first loss is not the end of anything. Some of the greatest champions in boxing history learned the most on the nights that went wrong. At 25, he has time to go back to the gym, study the tape with his team and return sharper. How he answers this will tell us more about him than any of his 26 wins did.

Olascuaga proved something too. Champions find a way when a fight is close, and digging out a knockdown late in the final round of a title defense is exactly what champions do. Martinez showed plenty in defeat and should get more big nights.

And Adames, even on a quiet night, did the professional thing. He cut off the ring, went to the body and banked rounds against an opponent who did not want to engage. Nobody will put it in a highlight reel, but a win in a new promotional home is a win, and he keeps his place near the top of a crowded middleweight division.

Saturday was a reminder of why so many fans still love the sweet science. In one night, a favorite fell, a champion dug deep and a contender quietly took care of business. The next chapter for all of them starts Monday morning in the gym.