IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) had too much for previously unbeaten WBA champ Eimantas Stanionis (15-1, 9 KOs), defeating him by a sixth round TKO in a two-belt unification on Saturday night at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City in New Jersey.
Ennis knocked Stanionis down with a couple of hard shots to the head and body in the sixth round. Stanionis made it out of the round but looked in bad shape, bleeding from the nose and right eye. After the round ended, Stanionis’s corner chose to have the fight stopped.
“We’ll see. I’m going to talk to my team,” said Ennis when asked if he’s going to continue to unify at 147 or go up to 154.
Super featherweight contender Raymond Ford (17-1-1, 8 KOs) dominated Thomas Mattice (22-5-1, 17 KOs), beating him by a 10-round unanimous decision in a disappointingly boring chief support fight. Mattice threw very few shots in the fight and was getting picked off by the sharp punches from former WBA featherweight champion Ford all night. In the later rounds, Mattice threw occasional right hands but would immediately cover up and let Ford have his way. The scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 100-90. The crowd at the Boardwalk Hall was not happy with the fighter, as they frequently booed in the second half. It wasn’t just Mattice that they were annoyed with. Ford was also being booed because he looked like he was afraid to fight aggressively due to Mattice’s punching power and size.
Junior middleweight prospect Omari Jones (2-0, 2 KOs) made easy work of William Jackson (13-6-2, 5 KOs), blasting him out in the first round. The fight ended after the 2024 Olympian Jones landed a right to the body that sent Jackdown, 36, down. The official time of the stoppage was at 1:47 of the first. Even if Jackson had gotten up, he was out of his class fighting a talent like Jones. It’s hard to know how Jones can progress with mismatches like this. This was a total slaughter from the word go.
Welterweight Shakhram Giyasov (17-0, 10 KOs) scored a fourth-round knockout over Franco Ocampo (17-3, 8 KOs). In round four, the Matchroom-promoted 2016 Olympic silver medalist Shakhram landed a right to the body that sent the Argentinian Ocamp down. The referee then counted him out. The time was 1:58. Earlier in the fight, Giyasov dropped Ocampo in the first round after hurting him with a right hand. Ocampo barely made it out of the round. In the third, Shakhram hurt Ocampo with a left to the body, causing him to wince in pain and bend forward slightly.
Giyasov is mandatory for WBA welterweight champion Eimantas Stanionis, and he’s already stepping aside to allow him to fight Jaron Ennis tonight.
Thus far, this undercard has been filled with mismatches in fights that have ended quickly in favor of the A-side fighters. That’s not good for the fans seeing a bunch of quick knockouts.
Super featherweight prospect Zaquin Moses (3-0, 2 KO) crushed Alex Pallette (1-4, 1 KO), flattening him in two rounds to get the KO. The 19-year-old Newark, New Jersey native, Zaquin landed a left hand straight down the pipe, sending Pallete down on one knee. The referee, David Franciosi, then counted out Pallete. The official time of the stoppage was at the 2:30 mark. Pallette, 5’11”, couldn’t do much during the fight because he looked thin, slow, and weak. It was basically just left-hand target practice for Moses, who was focusing on throwing with that hand and loading up on kill shots. Occasionally, Pallette connected with punches but had nothing on them. It was like he was swatting at flies and couldn’t do much against the more powerfully built Zaquin.
It’s going to be interesting to see if Moses pans out in the pro ranks. He didn’t have much of any amateur career. So, he’s learning on the job in the pros, and it’s going to be tough for him to get to the next level against fighters with more experience, tools, and equal power to him. Right now, he’s doing well because he’s being matched against low-level opposition, and he’s huge for the super featherweight division at 5’9″. But life could be hard for him when Moses goes up to 135, 140, and 147. At 19, Moses will keep growing and filling out. He can’t stay at 130 for his entire career. Fellow Newark native, Shakur Stevenson, is fond of Zaquin Moses, and he expects big things from him. However, Shakur had an actual amateur career to develop. So, what he did might not be possible for Zaquin.
Welterweight Tahmir Smalls (14-0, 10 KOs) made quick work of Earl Bascombe (13-2, 2 KOs), destroying him in the first round after nailing him with two big left hands that put him down. Smalls looked like he thought about getting up but opted to stay down. The time was at 1:13 of the ground.
Super bantamweight prospect Arturo Cardenas (16-0, 9 KOs) scored an eighth round knockout of Edgar Joe Cortes (9-8-1, 1 KOs). Cardenas dropped the southpaw Cores three times in the contest, in rounds 5, 7, and 8th. Referee Charlie Fitch pulled the plug on the fight after Cardenas knocked Cortes down with a right hand in round eight. The time was at 1:30.