A first-round knockdown and a point deduction for a low blow cost Israel Mercado what could’ve been an upset victory over an unbeaten junior welterweight prospect Saturday.

Mercado settled for a majority draw with Leonardo Rubalcalva, who survived Mercado’s onslaught during the final minute of their entertaining eight-round fight on the Diego Pacheco-Steven Nelson undercard at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Judge Zachary Young scored Mercado a 76-74 winner, but judges Chris Migliore and Dave Morretti both scored their closely contested bout even, 75-75.

Mexico’s Rubalcalva (9-0-1, 3 KOs) landed a right hand that sent Mercado to one knee in the first round. Referee Allen Huggins didn’t call it a knockdown in real time, but a video review between rounds by the Nevada State Athletic Commission corrected that mistake.

Mercado was warned for a low blow in the fifth round, however, and Huggins deducted a point from him for another low blow late in the seventh round.

Mercado (11-1-2, 7 KOs), of Pomona, California, clearly hurt Rubalcalva toward the end of the eighth round, but a fading Rubalcalva held and moved enough to make it to the final bell.

In the previous bout, Nishant Dev delivered the type of performance that could’ve captivated a potentially massive fan base in his native India.

Dev dropped a close decision to Mexico’s Marco Verde at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, but he left no doubt about the outcome of his pro debut. Dev dropped Alton Wiggins twice and continued to hit him with punishing punches until referee Robert Hoyle stepped between them and prevented Wiggins from taking more punishment.

Hoyle halted their six-round middleweight match at 2:48 of the first round.

Promoter Eddie Hearn praised Dev in the ring as a potential star in India, which boasts more than 1.4 billion inhabitants, yet hasn’t produced a legitimate boxing star. Wiggins, of Modesto, California, slipped to 1-1-1.

Harley Mederos wasn’t necessarily satisfied with the vicious knockout he produced during the third round of the bout before Dev defeated Wiggins.

Mederos drilled Arturo de Isla with a right-left combination that knocked de Isla flat on his back in the middle minute of the third round. Referee Raul Caiz Jr. immediately waved an end to their six-round lightweight bout at 1:27 of the third round.

Brooklyn’s Mederos (8-0, 7 KOs), who is promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, told DAZN’s Chris Mannix that he had hoped to stop de Isla (5-3-1, 4 KOs) earlier than he did. Mederos unleashed an array of power punches on the game Mexican throughout a lopsided first round, but de Isla survived those tough three minutes.

Mederos wasn’t as effective during the second round, though he clearly won it. In the following round, the 24-year-old Mederos extended his knockout streak to six.

In the opening fight Saturday, Zaquin Moses battered Mario Garcia with left hands so badly during the first round that Mexico’s Garcia declined to answer the bell for the second round of their scheduled four-rounder.

Moses (2-0, 1 KO), a Newark, New Jersey native who is a cousin of WBC lightweight champ Shakur Stevenson, weighed in at 130.4 pounds Friday for this bout.

Garcia (3-1, 3 KOs), who took their fight on very short notice, was approximately seven pounds heavier Friday, yet they moved forward with their bout because Garcia was an 11th-hour replacement for Moses’ original opponent. Moses’ team overlooked the weight disadvantage in part because Garcia competed at the bantamweight limit in his previous bout.