Argentina’s Jesus Cuellar won his ninth in a row last night (Photo: Stephane Trapp – Showtime)

By Chris Robinson

Last night, from the Little Creek Casino Resort in Shelton, Wash., interim WBA featherweight champion Jesus “El Jinte” Cuellar (26-1, 20 KO’s) won his ninth in a row by stopping Mexico’s Ruben Tamayo (23-5-4, 17 KO’s) in the fifth round. The bout was part of a four-fight Showtime Extreme telecast.

“I’m happy with my performance tonight,’’ said Cuellar, who is one of the busiest fighters in his division. “My team and I worked very hard in training camp and it showed. I corrected mistakes from my last fight. Sometimes, I get too anxious in there and I come out too strong. I feel that this time I was a little bit more patient.”

Cuellar also expressed interest in a meeting with three-division world champion Abner Mares, which seems like a realistic fight to make .

“I really wanted to make a good impression on the fans tonight and I’m looking forward to fighting often again next year,’’ Cuellar noted. “There are a lot of possibilities, but I think the fighter I’d like to fight is Abner Mares, who I met recently in Las Vegas. He approached me and we took a picture together and then he tweeted it out, saying he wanted to fight me. Well, I’d like to fight him, too. It would be a really exciting fight for the fans.’’

Cuellar has make great strides working under Robert Garcia the past few years and the renowned trainer believes the best is yet to come.

“We haven’t seen the best of Cuellar, not by a longshot,’’ said Garcia, who trains Cuellar out of his facility in Oxnard, Calif.

“He’s making good progress from fight to fight, but still has things to learn,” Garcia added. “Little by little, though, he is getting better. There is not a fighter as dedicated as he is. He’s very disciplined, trains hard, spars hard and does everything to the extreme. With more time, I really expect great things out of him.’’

Chris Robinson can be reached at CRobinson@hustleboss.com