HBO boxing results: Nicholas Walters wins, Felix Verdejo excites

Nicholas Walters and Miguel Marriaga had a decent main event fight tonight on HBO World Championship Boxing, but you wouldn't know it by listening to the crowd at The Theater at Madison Square Garden, who were indifferent to both fighters and the action itself, and by the later rounds, were filing out of the arena.

Walters, who missed weight for the featherweight title bout yesterday, won a wide decision on scores of 117-110, 118-109, and 119-108. The WBA "super" world featherweight title is now vacant. The Jamaician "Axe Man" improves his record to 26-0 (21 KO), while Marriaga falls to 20-1 (18 KO).

Felix Verdejo was definitely the real main event of the night to the majority of the 3,321 in attendance in New York City, as he won a wide decision over Ivan Najera in the HBO co-feature. Verdejo won the 10-round fight on scores of 100-88, 100-88, and 99-89, dropping Najera (16-1, 8 KO) two times. Verdejo, who is being groomed as Top Rank's next big Puerto Rican superstar and is getting the fan backing to facilitate that, improves to 18-0 (13 KO).

Here's a look at the uppercut that put Najera down the first time:

WATCH the uppercut from @DiamanteVerdejo that sent Najera to the canvas in round five #TweetReplay #VerdejoNajera http://t.co/hQW3tvcr3l

— HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) June 14, 2015

Verdejo reportedly came into the fight with an injured left hand that will require surgery, but is not thought to be a serious injury that will sideline him for very long.