Israil Madrimov’s supposed tune-up fight didn’t unfold as planned Saturday night.

The Ring’s third-ranked junior middleweight contender went the 10-round distance with a huge underdog Madrimov’s handlers chose because they expected him to knock him out relatively quickly. Madrimov fought for the first time in 11 months and again failed to resemble the former WBA 154-pound champion who gave Terence Crawford perhaps the most difficult fight of his career before he retired as a five-division champ.

DraftKings made Madrimov a 35-1 favorite over an opponent who was knocked out in a junior welterweight fight, though you wouldn’t have known it.

The light-punching, slower Salazar didn’t hurt Madrimov with any of the punches he landed and clearly lost. He also took his opponent’s power without incident for almost all of a middleweight match Madrimov won by unanimous decision on the Raymond Muratalla-Andy Cruz undercard at Fontainebleau Las Vegas.

Judges Glenn Feldman, Chris Migliore and Don Trella all scored it for Madrimov by the identical large margin of 99-91, but that their cards were required to determine the outcome was surprising to say the least.

Madrimov (11-2-1, 7 KOs), who was cut near his left eye in the sixth round, hammered Salazar with right hands that finally hurt him in the final minute. Salazar (20-2, 7 KOs) held and moved well enough to make it to the final bell.

Madrimov informed The Ring that he only trained for five weeks to face Salazar. He still pushed his promoter, Matchroom Boxing, to get him a fight before the devout Muslim begins to observe Ramadan in mid-February.

The Uzbekistan native’s conditioning clearly needs to improve if, as he stated beforehand, he is to face another top junior middleweight in his next fight.

Madrimov, 30, fought for the first time since he lost a unanimous decision to WBC interim super welterweight champ Vergil Ortiz on February 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Madrimov underweight surgeries to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder and a torn meniscus in his left knee following his loss to Ortiz (24-0, 22 KOs). He also was dealing with the effects of respiratory bronchitis and pneumonia in that bout.

Madrimov felt much healthier Saturday night, though it didn’t necessarily show in his uninspiring performance.

The Dominican Republic’s Salazar, 32, previously lost to Kevin Johnson by eighth-round knockout in their junior welterweight bout in May 2021.

Before Madrimov’s victory, dynamic American prospect Omari Jones dealt Jerome Baxter his first professional defeat.

Jones, a 23-year-old 2024 Olympic bronze medalist from Orlando, moved smoothly and again displayed poise while picking apart Pittsburgh’s Baxter (7-1, 3 KOs) with overhand rights, left hooks and jabs. Jones (5-0, 4 KOs) went the distance for the first time, but he was thoroughly impressive on his way to winning their junior middleweight match by the same score, 60-53, according to judges Tim Cheatham, John McCarthy and Steve Weisfeld.

A left hook by Jones buzzed Baxter about 55 seconds into their fight. Jones tried to finish him, but Baxter recovered, temporarily anyway.

Jones’ jab sent Baxter to the canvas with 50 seconds to go in the opening round. Baxter recovered again, though, and made it to the second round.

Jones didn’t drop Baxter again, but he seemed to buzz Baxter several times during the ensuing five rounds.

Junior lightweight prospect Zaquin Moses dominated Leandro Medina and won by unanimous decision in the six-round bout before Jones’ win.

Moses, a cousin of Shakur Stevenson, dropped the game Argentinean in the fourth round and cruised to a shutout on the cards of judges Kermit Bayless, Max De Luca and Lisa Giampa. They all scored the fight 60-53 for Moses, a 20-year-old southpaw from Newark, New Jersey.

The taller, faster, sharper Moses (6-0, 3 KOs) continually caught Medina (7-3-1, 4 KOs) to the head and body and had little difficulty dealing with the persistent pressure.

A right hook by Moses dropped Medina 25 seconds into the fourth. Medina, who was stopped in the second round by Deric Davis (9-0, 9 KOs) two bouts before he met Moses, got up quickly and remained upright for the remainder of their one-sided fight.