PHILADELPHIA – Geo Lopez’s youth got the best of Rene Alvarado’s experience Saturday – but only just.

Here at the 2300 Arena, the 21-year-old Lopez won a decision over the 36-year-old Alvarado that was narrower than the scores suggested in a ProBox TV undercard bout.

Lopez won by scores of 100-90, 98-92, and 97-93. He had early success with combinations and body shots, easily working his way inside his opponent’s 4in reach advantage. But as the bout wore on, he slowed and lost snap on his punches, allowing Alvarado to get his licks in.

Alvarado, 34-16 (22 KOs), is a veteran of fights with Lamont Roach Jnr, William Zepeda and Yuriorkis Gamboa. Born and living in Managua, Nicaragua, the veteran Alvarado showed his toughness by making the fight more difficult for Lopez as the rounds went by.

In the first round, Lopez took the initiative and Alvarado tried to counter. Lopez landed a couple crisp, straight punches to the body, while Alvarado forced his younger opponent onto the back foot at the end of the round.

Lopez scored with left hands throughout the second. Midway through the stanza, Alvarado suddenly tried to drown Lopez with volume punching after a relatively inactive first, landing two hard lefts to the body and a right that sprayed spit from Lopez’s mouth.

Lopez proved more adept at slipping punches in the third. He scored with a blistering combination late in the round, while Alvarado was caught reaching and missing with his punches. Alvarado’s best punch remained the left hook to the body.

Lopez’s punches moved Alvarado in the fifth, shifting him backwards with heavy combinations and shots to the pit of the stomach. Alvarado tried to impose forward pressure, but he rarely landed effectively. A vicious exchange punctuated the end of the round, with Lopez landing a huge counter right hand that Alvarado stood up to.

Alvarado fought in potent spurts in the sixth. Clinches grew more frequent, and the decreasingly active Lopez shrugged his right shoulder as if he had hurt it.

Alvarado enjoyed his best round of the fight in the seventh, catching Lopez with a left, a right and two hard body shots as the younger fighter tried to dance around the ring. Lopez’s punches had become less spiteful, and Alvarado charged forward with greater abandon. Lopez landed two hard left hands off the ropes at the end of the round.

Lopez boxed off his back foot in the eighth, throwing single shots to keep Alvarado at bay. Though Lopez remained elusive, Alvarado’s pressure and body shots appeared to be taking their toll. Lopez even walked right towards Alvarado to tie up in the middle of the stanza.

Lopez’s corner begged him to work the body in Round 9, but he kept firing single left hands at Alvarado’s head and remained in retreat from Alvarado’s steady forward march. The momentum was now with the veteran.

The 10th saw a more active Lopez, still scoring with lefts, but Alvarado dictating the landscape and tempo of the fight.

Lopez, 18-0 (12 KOs), retained his unbeaten record, but he won’t be happy with how the fight ended.

Owen Lewis is a former intern at Defector media and writes and edits for BoxingScene. His beats are tennis, boxing, books, travel and anything else that satisfies his meager attention span. He is on Bluesky.