The logic goes that well-balanced and matched undercards will please the fans and drive new eyeballs to the sport.

The undercard of the OTX show in Houston, Texas headlined by Andreas Katzourakis-Roberto Cruz, unfortunately, featured something like the opposite.

Giovanni Marquez-Esteban Munoz wasn’t so bad. Marquez, son of the popular retired fighter-turned-commentator, predictably moved to 13-0 (6 KOs) by defeating Esteban Munoz, who fell to 10-5 (5 KOs). DAZN commentator Corey Erdman shared the revealing tidbit here: that Munoz had admitted he shed 40 pounds to make the 143lbs catchweight.

But Munoz put up real resistance. He fought off the back foot but stood and traded in spots, came to win, and had enough skills that doing so didn’t seem totally impossible.

Still, Marquez’s sharp, straight right hands and wind-up body shots did damage, and Munoz’s power wasn’t sufficient to deter him. Marquez hurt him with single shots a couple times throughout the bout, but Munoz showed responsible defense after being shaken and never came especially close to being stopped.

After the seventh round, Munoz threw a jab well after the bell, provoking Marquez into the universal “suck it” signal of gesturing to his thighs. Marquez briefly hurt Munoz in the final round, but prolonged his attempted finishing flurry for a moment too long and ate some stiff counters from Munoz.

Marquez won by scores of 79-73 and 78-74, twice.

The first three bouts on the card all ventured into hard-to-watch territory quickly.

Nate Lugo, 4-0 (4 KOs), dismissed the 4-4 Austin Dulworth over a scheduled six rounds at super middleweight. Dulworth’s primary asset was his chin — Lugo peppered him with power shots of all varieties, flashing his fast hands to win the exchanges. Such was the mismatch that Lugo felt sufficiently comfortable to dance to the ringside music between rounds. Through three rounds, Lugo had landed 81 punches to Dulworth’s 11. You wonder how Dulworth’s team felt leading him to the slaughter.

Lugo dropped Dulworth hard with a sudden, concussive straight right early in the fourth. Dulworth covered up, not throwing back and absorbing plenty more punishment, but the referee showed a bizarre resistance to stopping the fight. Finally, midway through the fifth, the referee waved it off during a period of relative inaction.

Oscar Perez and Cesar Juarez were well-matched in everything but skill. They are an inch apart in height, have the same reach, and both weighed in at 135lbs. The records told the story: Perez moved to 13-0-2 ( 7 KOs) with a one-sided victory over Juarez, who took Nonito Donaire the distance in 2015. He is now 31-19 (24 KOs).

Juarez, who has a law and psychology degree in addition to his pugilistic pedigree, had far too much bravery for his own good. He tried to brawl with the fleeter-fisted, heavier-handed Perez and ate power shots in droves. Each time Perez seemed to buckle him, Juarez mocked him or beckoned him on only to get buckled again. Though Juarez lasted the distance, the fight could and should have been stopped several times.

Instead, Juarez’s corner and the referee let their fighter go only to lose by scores of 79-71 and 80-70, twice. He engaged Perez in a brutal brawl for the final minute of the fight, intensifying the crowd’s cheers to fever pitch. It may cost Juarez’s health dearly.

In the opener, Elijah Lugo, Nate’s brother, beat down a smaller, overmatched, durable opponent over four rounds for the second time in two professional fights. Lugo, 2-0, won every round by a distance over Chris Porter. Porter, 37 years old and now 2-3-2 (2 KOs), had little in response for Lugo’s power shots and couldn’t hurt him in return.

That was by design. At 37 years old, Porter had been inactive for seven years earlier in his career and another year more recently. Lugo also dwarfed him in the ring. The same was the case for Lugo’s first opponent, Andre Johnson: he had to come up from junior middleweight, had only been boxing for 10 months, and took the fight on a week’s notice.

It’s standard operating procedure for hot prospects. Eventually, Lugo will fight someone who could feasibly beat him. But by then, he’ll have left a long line of battered heavy underdogs in his wake.