Abdullah Mason (19-0, 17 KOs) scored a fifth-round TKO win over Jeremia Nakathila (26-5, 21 KOs) in the main event on Saturday night at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. The fight was stopped at the 0:01 mark of the fifth round.
Cut Ends Main Event
Nakathila had taken a lot of punishment in the fourth round and suffered a bad cut over his left eye. After the round ended, the referee repeatedly asked Nakathila if he wanted to continue.
The fight failed to end in a dramatic way that fans have become accustomed to in watching Mason’s fights. Instead, it was halted at the start of the fifth due to a cut and swelling over Nakathila’s left eye. The fight ended one second into the fifth.
Not surprisingly, the fans at ringside weren’t happy about the fight ending on a cut, as it wasn’t an action-packed one like many had expected it to be. The entire undercard had been a big disappointment as well, with dull fights, and the hometown fighter, light welterweight Kelvin Davis, losing in the co-feature.
Mason held back from using his trademark right hook and uppercuts during the fight, perhaps worried about getting dropped like what happened last year when he was knocked down twice by Yohan Vasquez in the first round. Tonight, Abdullah, 21, was more strategic, using his power jab to connect with and occasionally landing some nice shots.
Nakathila’s Tough Fourth
It wasn’t until the fourth round that Mason opened up with his offense, staggering and cutting Nakathila. The crowd got excited and tried to encourage Mason to finish him. However, Nakathila wasn’t going to go down easily and tagged Mason with some big shots.
It made him give up on the idea of going for the knockout. Nakathila was literally fighting for survival in the final seconds of the round, and throwing his punches with full power. He caught Mason with a few of them, and he didn’t like it because he backed off.
Nakathila looked all of 35 tonight and was too old to give Mason much of a test. Top Rank should have found someone better than this for Mason’s opponent because Nakathila had been knocked out twice in 2023 by Ernesto Mercado and Raymond Muratalla.
Both of those knockouts came in the second round. Those guys looked a lot more impressive than Mason against Jeremia because they were more fearless. Mason is going to have to ight better in the future if he wants to become a star because he looked bang average tonight.
Albright Beats Kelvin Davis
In the chief support bout, Nahir Albright (17-2, 7 KOs) defeated previously unbeaten light welterweight Kelvin Davis (15-1, 8 KOs) by a 10-round majority decision. Albright’s hand speed, power and skills advantage was too much for the gangly 6’3″, rail-thin Kelvin to deal with tonight.
The scores were 95-95, 97-93, and 96-94. I had it 100-90 for Albright. He dominated Kelvin in every round of the fight, and made him look like he didn’t belong in the same ring with him. Davis did basically nothing to come close to winning any of the rounds after the first.
In rounds two and four, Albright staggered Davis with shots and unloaded on him with shots, trying to get the knockout. Davis resorted to holding after the fourth, and the final six rounds, clinching whenever Albright would get near. The referee was tolerant of Kelvin’s excessive holding but should have docked him points because it was extreme.
Keyshawn Davis Altercation
After the fight, Albright told ESPN that he’d been jumped by Keyshawn Davis and his brother Keno Davis inside his dressing room. He claimed the swelling on his face was from the altercation. Albright said he wants a rematch with Keyshawn, who beat him by a 10-round majority decision in 2023.
In that fight, Albright staggered Keyshawn in the eighth, and he fought well enough for it to be scored a draw by one judge. I had it as a draw as well. He exposed Keyshawn in that fight, and Top Rank backed off with their progression of Davis afterward.
