Lightweight contender Abdullah Mason (19-0, 17 KOs) defeated the hard-hitting Jeremiah Nakathila (26-5, 21 KOs) by a fifth-round technical knockout in the main event on Saturday night at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.
Mason, 21, had to fight more cautiously than usual due to Nakathila’s power. In the fourth round, Mason opened up with some big shots, staggering the 35-year-old Nakathila and cutting him over his left eye. Despite being hurt, Nakathila fought back, hittingg Abdullah with monstrous shots that forced him to give up on the idea of going for the kncokout.
There was one left hand that Nakathila tagged Mason with that appeared to shake him up a little. After that, Mason backed off entirely and let the round run out without pressing forward for any additional exchanges. After the round ended, the referee had the ringside doctor examine Nakathila’s cut, and he advised that the fight be halted.
All in all, it wasn’t vintage stuff by Mason, but he wasn’t going to take chances against the dangerous puncher Nakathila.
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In a surprise, Nahir Albright (17-2, 7 KOs) dominated light welterweight Kelvin Davis (15-1, 8 KOs), beating him by a 10-round majority decision. The scores were 95-95, 97-93, and 96-94. Those scores were a joke, but showed what Albright was up against, fighting the hometown fighter, Kelvin Davis, on his home turf in Norfolk. The fight should have been scored 100-90 for Albright because he landed the better shots every round and was the one putting the pressure on. The referee gave Kelvin a lot of leeway to hold all night because he should have penalized him.
Albright hit the stork-like 6’3″ Davis at will, staggering him in rounds two and four. Davis held frequently from the fourth round on, using that as his main line of defense to prevent Albright from battering him on the inside. Most of the time, Kelvin’s first move was to dive in and hold. There were no methods to try and win. It was hold and move all night by Davis.
His brother, Keyshawn, needs to forget about putting him on any of his future cards and stop talking about this ‘DB3’ nonsense. There’s only him, and his future is uncertain too, now that he’s moving up to 140 after failing to make weight last Friday for his canceled fight against Edwin De Los Santos. Keyshawn’s other brother, Keon Davis, doesn’t look great either. He’s doing okay right now because he’s fighting low-level opposition at 147, but he’s not shown the ability to win a world title at welterweight either. Top Rank needs to leave Keon, Kelvin, and Delante Johnson off their future cards because none of these guys look good enough to go anywhere without protective matchmaking. Some would argue that’s the only reason Keyshawn won a world title at 135. He avoided Andy Cruz and fought the weakest link among the champions, Denys Berinchyk.
Light welterweight Delante ‘Tiger’ Johnson (16-0, 7 KOs) defeated Janelson Figueroa Bocachica (17-4-1, 11 KOs) by an ugly 10-round, poorly scored 10-round unanimous decision. Johnson rarely threw any punches through the first seven rounds, seemingly terrified of getting clipped by the big puncher Bocachica. Tiger’s trainer was on the ESPN mic and was screaming at him to throw punches the entire fight. The Norfolk crowd at the ringside booed continuously from the sixth round, unhappy with the lack of action. The judges’ scores were 100-90, 97-93, 98-92.
Middleweight Troy Isley (15-0, 5 KOs) was forced to labor hard to win a 10-round unanimous decision over Etoundi Michel William (16-2, 12 KOs) in a fight that easily could have been scored a draw. William landed the cleaner, harder punches throughout, and controlled most of the first six rounds. Isley used his high volume to get the better of William down the stretch to control the action, but it still seemed close. The judges’ scores were 98-92, 96-94, and 96-94.
Welterweight prospect Keon Davis (4-0, 3 KOs) knocked out Michael Velez (3-1, 2 KOs) with a perfectly placed left to the body in round two of a six-round bout on the undercard tonight. The lanky 6’3″ Keon pressured Velez throughout, landing right hands and left hooks to the head and body.
Velez came out for two rounds fighting with more aggression after taking a lot of shots from Keon in the opening round. He took the action in close, taking advantage of Keon’s lack of power on the inside. However, Velez left himself open for a left-hand body shot that put him down hard. He wasn’t expecting the shot and did damage. The referee then counted him out with Velez not attempting to get up. The time of the stoppage was at 2:22 of round two.