* Edison Miranda made quick work of Francisco Sierra en route to winning the North American Boxing Organization super middleweight championship.

Miranda landed a wicked right-hand to the back of Sierra's head, sending him to the canvas 2:16 into the first round.

* Visalia's Aaron Alafa made a triumphant return to the ring after a long break, earning a split decision. The judges scored it 38-37, 37-38, 39-37 despite Alafa suffering a disputed knockdown in the third round of the four-round super bantamweight bout. Alafa said after the fight he sliped on an untied shoestring, which he was sent to his corner to tie after receiving a standing eight count.

* Wasco's Manuel Quezada retained his WBC Caribbean heavyweight title with a 98-92, 97-93, 99-91 10-round decision over Nicolai Firtha. Quezada, the WBC's fourth-ranked heavyweight, has now won 18 straight fights and is hoping to land a title shot sometime in 2010. Look for a blog from me next week detailing what Quezada's chances at getting that title shot.

* Bakersfield's Mike Dallas Jr. remained undefeated with a 58-56, 60-54, 60-54 victory over Sergio De La Torre in a six-round junior welterweight bout.

Dallas (11-0-1, 2 KOs) appeared to have De La Torre (11-13-3, 3 KOs) on the verge of going down in the fourth round, but couldn't finish him off. Dallas left De La Torre's left eye battered behind his lightning-quick right-hand.

* Martin Honorio wisely didn't let his six-round lightweight bout go to the scorecards. Honorio, who had been deducted two points for low blows and was on the verge of being disqualified, delivered a vicious right hook that dropped Ricardo Medina (31-35-5, 17 KOs) at 2:07 of the third round.

Honorio (26-4-1, 14 KOs) moves on to a Nov. 28 bout on Showtime against former U.S. Olympian John Molina.

* Welterweight Alan Sanchez got a seven-bout boxing card -- which will be headlined later tonight by the NABO super middleweight title fight between Edison Miranda and Francisco Sierra -- off to a smashing start Thursday night with a second-round TKO over Mikhail Lyubarsky.

* In the second bout of the night, super bantamweight Ephraim Martinez, who handed Visalia's Aaron Alafa his first pro loss April 23, improved to 3-0 with his first knockout, earning a stoppage against Rodrigo Romero (1-2) at 2:28 of the third round.

* Read my recap of tonight's action, including details of Manuel Quezada's bout against Nicolai Firtha and Alafa's fight against Danny Pontoja, in Friday's Bee or at fresnobee.com.