In his final fight for Top Rank, Newark’s hometown boy and Undefeated WBC Lightweight champ (and soon to be free agent) Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) won the headlining fight on ESPN by fighting in a way that may have correctly delivered him the W against German Olympic Bronze Medalist Artem Harutyunyan (12-2, 7 KOs), but left me wondering (at least early on) if I would nod off before the twelfth round closed. I know the first round is often part of the “feeling out” process, but when you see two guys land a total of five punches (which is only five more than me, if you are scoring at home), you start to think, can I keep from falling into a slumber if the fight results in eleven more rounds of this?
Well, your intrepid reporter did his job, and while Stevenson definitely picked it up after round five, the performance was hard to feel satisfied by when an electric talent like Shakur was in the ring with a clearly inferior opponent. Sure, there were certainly moments of brilliance where Stevenson showed off his hand speed and superior skill, but they were just blips on the heart monitor of a fading octogenarian. When you heard Stevenson’s corner, tell him to “pick up the fucking pace,” I feel like he was speaking for all of us. Throughout the fight, it was obvious that Stevenson was enjoying himself. I just would have liked to have enjoyed myself too.
In fact, in rounds nine and ten, Harutyunyan, while still losing, started to become more effective. I’m guessing Stevenson was beginning to feel the pressure of wanting the knockout, and the tough German wouldn’t go away, and had more in the tank than he would have had Stevenson opened up sooner. You could even hear light booing from Stevenson’s backyard in the eleventh. Had Stevenson really stepped on the gas at any point before the fifth, Shakur and his crew could have made it to Sizzler for a steak dinner before they closed.
Stevenson had a lot to make up for tonight against Artem Harutyunyan after his desultory performance (despite taking the UD) in his most recent bout against Edwin De Los Santos. That miserable bout set a CompuBox record for the fewest number of punches ever thrown in a 12-round fight, with neither fighter landing as many as ten punches in any round. Despite being just 27, holding an Olympic Silver Medal, having won belts at featherweight, super featherweight, and lightweight, and previously having scored exciting wins over Jamel Herring and Oscar Valdez, Stevenson has gone from being seen as the possible future of boxing to the snoozer of boxing. Yes, he’s highly skilled and athletic, but sometimes he takes the idea of “defense first” to such an extreme that even Pernell Whitaker and Winky Wright would have to shake their heads. Stevenson has everything he needs to be great, except for the far too occasional proclivity to throw punches at a volume so low that they can’t be picked up by anything other than bats. Put simply, he can be a brutal watch.
And while Stevenson was a lot more watchable tonight than he was against De Los Santos, that’s setting the bar pretty goddamn low. I don’t know for sure who Stevenson is going to fight next in the loaded lightweight division (Loma seems to be the target). The sad part is that for all his talent, I really don’t care.
Robson Conceicao Becomes A WBC Champion
In the best “on paper” matchup of the night, Robson Conceicao (19-2-1, 10 KOs) won a split decision victory over WBC Super Featherweight Champion O’Shaquie Foster (22-3, 12 KOs), in the kind of result that makes you wonder if the judges at ringside (at least two of them) are suffering from macular degeneration. One judge scored the bout 116-112 for Foster, the other two scored the fight 116-112 and 115-113 for Conceicao. Honestly, the card in favor of Foster was too close. Conceicao only managed to land more than ten blows in two rounds, and the Compubox numbers favored Foster by a tally of 109-76. This is an absolutely f*cking embarrassing decision.
Foster, five years the junior of his opponent, was sharp early and throughout, controlling the fight with his jab, well placed counters, and excellent footwork. Through the early rounds, Foster was giving Conceicao a boxing lesson, never allowing Conceicao an easy target, and landing the cleaner shots with consistency. Some fans booed in the fourth (and later on too), but it’s not like Foster was running, Conceicao just struggled all night to find him. Conceicao, being no dummy, picked up the pace in the fifth, but while the fight was becoming more visually competitive, Conceicao couldn’t make Foster change his style or cause him discomfort. In the seventh, Foster appeared to have injured his arm. Reports from his corner declared the malady a slight overextension of Foster’s right shoulder. Whatever the case, the eighth round was more of the same. Foster was more accurate, and Conceicao was swinging at air. No one could say Conceicao didn’t try. He threw more punches than Foster, but he just couldn’t land often enough or hard enough to change the trajectory of the fight. Conceicao showed his desperation in the final round, throwing widely and wildly in an effort to land something/anything to create a game-changing blow. Alas, Foster’s discipline and defense would not allow Conceicao to gain any traction.
And yet here we are, again, with a boxing decision that makes zero sense. What really stinks is that both fighters are the kind of guys you want to root for.
Back in 2016, O’Shaquie Foster was a prospect that was starting to looking suspect after losing a split decision to Rolando Chinea, leaving him with a pedestrian record of 10-2. Foster righted the ship by going on a 10 bout winning streak that culminated in the taking of the WBC Super Featherweight belt by winning a UD over Rey Vargas just last year. Foster has since defended his belt twice, most recently winning a split decision (in which he was helped tremendously by scoring a 12th round knockdown) over Abraham Nova in February. Foster’s other previous defense was no easy walk either. Also closely contested, Foster’s bout against Eduardo Hernandez required two knockdowns to guarantee the win for the newly minted champ.
Robson Conceicao has a story of his own, being the first Brazilian to win an Olympic Gold Medal, and having lost title bouts to Oscar Valdez and Shakur Stevenson, and coming oh so close to gaining a belt against Emanuel Navarrete in a fight that ended in a majority draw. Fighting for a world title for a fourth, and at the age of 35 (had he lost), probably the last time.
It would have been a fine recap to write had Conceicao, after all he has gone through, done anything to earn the victory tonight. He did not. Nearing tears in the post-fight interview, Foster deserves an immediate rematch. I hope he gets it, because, again, this was a completely fucking embarrassing decision, and while it happens often, we can’t let ourselves get used to it. Boxing is a sport where people put their lives on the line when they compete. The least they deserve are judges blessed with the gift of sight.
Keyshawn Davis Scores Another Unanimous Decision
Hot Lightweight contender Keyshawn Davis (11-0, 7 KOs) easily outpointed the rugged Mexican Miguel Madueno (31-3, 28 KOs), taking a unanimous decision (99-91 on all three cards) in a frequently nasty 10 round fight. From just down the way in Norfolk, Davis had a tough job following up fellow division mate Abdullah Mason’s destruction of his opponent, and while Davis may not have put on the show Mason did earlier, he certainly impressed.
Davis took the first three rounds with his superior activity and accuracy, but Madueno came forward relentlessly and at times made Davis look uncomfortable. Davis started to break the fight open with a series of head-snapping jabs and hooks that Madueno felt, but remained undeterred in his will to come forward. The landed punch differential for round four favored Davis by a 34-9 count. After the fourth, it became clear that Madueno was left with nothing more than a puncher’s chance against Davis.
At the end of the sixth, Davis hit Madueno with a right hook that made his opponent fall forward and seemed to hurt him for the first time. The fight got ugly at the end of the round as the two men went head to head after the bell rang, and as the ref separated them, both men tossed blows at each other, with Madueno connecting a sideswipe to the ref. The seventh got even dirtier as Madueno lifted Davis off the ground as if he was going to bodyslam him. After being admonished by the ref, Madueno didn’t resort to further clowning of that level, but if Madueno thought Davis would be bothered by that feat of strength, he was wrong. Davis just kept throwing smoking jabs and hooks and was in full dominance by the end of the seventh. Davis finally made Madueno back up in the ninth, and the blistering array of punches that Davis landed as the round closed had to make you wonder what Madueno’s face is made of.
To be fair to Davis, he was in against superior competition than Mason took on earlier in the night. Madueno, who has fought as high as 154, is a rugged customer and looked much bigger than Davis in the ring. Madueno sported a thick literal and figurative beard in the ring. He is one tough customer. What may have been most admirable about Davis’ victory was the fact that he didn’t let any of the fouling and naughty stuff bother him. This is the kind of fight a young boxer on the ascent learns from as they move forward. What those watching tonight saw was a young fella with plenty of dog in him. Is Davis ready for a title fight after tonight’s W? One could argue another step up fight or two might be useful, but there’s no doubt the talent is there, and so is the will.
Abdullah Mason Puts On A Show
Gifted American Lightweight Abdullah Mason (14-0, 12 KOs) opened up ESPN’s main televised fight coverage by taking out the veteran Puerto Rican Luis Lebron (20-6-1) with verve and panache, winning by third round TKO. After a solid, but not overly eventful first round, the incredibly poised Mason scored two knockdowns in the last minute of the second round, showing off a stunning variety of punches thrown from all angles and at a ridiculous rate of speed. Lebron survived the round, but only just. Instead of hurrying at the beginning of the third, Mason took his time with the bloodied Lebron (who had never been knocked out), and then turned up the heat with combinations that would not quit. Lebron’s corner wisely threw in the towel to save their man from more punishment.
Full of power, speed, and skill the just 20-year-old Abdullah Mason had already proven himself to be one of the hottest prospects in boxing, and while Lebron is not an A-list fighter, he’s a real solid opponent who had never gone down on his shield. The pounding Mason put on Lebron wasn’t notable just for how fast it happened, but for the way Mason set up his shots. His balance and fundamentals are impressive enough, but then when you see how fast he delivers his hurting bombs (and with such exquisite timing and patience), there can be no doubt that you are looking at a fighter so talented that when ESPN commentator Timothy Bradley compared him to Roy Jones Jr., it didn’t just sound like hype. This kid is not normal. Make a note.
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