Carlos Adames (26-1-1) beat Gerome Warburton (18-3-2) by unanimous decision Saturday in the 10-round main event of Zuffa Boxing 13 at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Adames did his best work to the body, landing the heavier punches whenever he caught up with the retreating Welsh southpaw.

The judges scored it 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92 for Adames. Boxing News 24 scored it 100-90. The fight was contested at a 165-pound catchweight, as a non-title fight.

Adames finds his best work to the body

The opening round produced little clean work from either fighter. Adames set a slow pace and Warburton threw tentatively from the back foot, giving the champion room to follow him without taking many risks. In the second, Adames found the clearest scoring punches of the round with several right hands to the body.

Adames switched to southpaw in the third and sat down on hooks to both sides of Warburton’s body. It was his most sustained burst of offense in the early rounds, and his output dropped again when he went back to orthodox. The fourth and fifth passed at much the same pace as the opener, with Adames willing to take the rounds on a handful of clean punches and Warburton rarely committing to his own shots.

By the sixth, Warburton was making Adames chase him around the ring. The movement kept him out of range for stretches, but Adames landed hard to the body when he closed the distance. Warburton kept moving in the seventh, and Adames looked frustrated at times as the Welshman slipped away before the two could trade.

Warburton threw more in the eighth, using his punches mainly to keep Adames from getting close. There was little sustained offense behind them, and Adames went back to walking him down in the ninth. The final round followed the same pattern. Adames pressed at a steady pace and landed when he got close enough, while Warburton kept moving and rarely let his hands go.

Warburton came in off back-to-back decision wins over Nathan Heaney and faced a substantial step up against a reigning world champion. His movement made Adames work to get into range, but he seldom made Adames pay for coming forward. That left Adames free to choose when to press and when to settle for the work he had already done.

The win came in Adames’ Zuffa Boxing debut, five pounds above the middleweight limit. He is expected to return to 160 pounds for a mandatory defense against Meiirim Nursultanov, where his WBC belt would be on the line.