02.05.04 – In an excellent performance, IBF No. 1 contender Kelvin “Concrete” Davis knocked out IBF No. 4 contender Ezra Sellers in the eighth round to capture the vacant IBF cruiserweight title Saturday on SHOWTIME. In the co-feature at the Jai-Alai Fronton, WBA No. 4 contender Maselino Masoe (photo: TOM CASINO/SHOWTIME) impressively flattened WBA No. 5 contender Evans Ashira in the second round to earn the vacant WBA middleweight crown. The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING world championship doubleheader aired at 9 p.m. ET/PT and was promoted by Don King Productions.
Davis (21-2-1, 15 KOs), of Natchez, Miss., dominated the lanky Sellers from the outset. The aggressor throughout, he knocked down Sellers three times. The crowd-pleasing Davis, who worked both hands to the head and body effectively, floored Sellers with a series of punches at the end of the fourth round, dropped him with a three-punch combination in the eighth and finished him with a right hand later in the round. After the last knockdown, the referee stopped a good-action match at 2:33 of the session. The 5-foot-7 Davis opened his career with 16 consecutive victories, but was just 4-2-1 in his previous seven starts.
Sellers (27-6, 24 KOs), of Washington, D.C., suffered a bad cut on the top of his left eyelid in the fifth round. The 6-foot-1 southpaw fought on gamely, while trying to box from the outside, but he did not have the firepower to keep Davis away. The loss to Davis ended a three-fight winning streak and dropped Sellers to 0-2 in world title fights. In his first world title fight appearance, Sellers floored then-World Boxing Organization (WBO) cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson before losing by eighth-round TKO on April 6, 2002.
Masoe (25-2, 24 KOs), of Samoa, registered three knockdowns before the bout was stopped 44 seconds into the second round. A winner of seven in a row, the power-punching Masoe turned around what had been an even fight for the first 2:50 when he dropped the previously unbeaten Ashira with a short right hook with approximately five seconds remaining in the opening round. Masoe came out quickly in the second and dropped Ashira with a short right hand. Moments later, he landed a left hook that ended matters, the referee stopping the bout without bothering a count.
Ashira (23-1, 13 KOs), of Nairobi, Kenya, came out aggressively and scored with a good share of his shots in a competitive first round. He may have been slightly ahead in the round when he went down.
SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING’s Steve Albert and Al Bernstein called the action from ringside with Jim Gray serving as roving reporter. The executive producer of the SHOWTIME telecast was Jay Larkin, with David Dinkins Jr. producing and Bob Dunphy directing.
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