Mason easily stops Nakathila; Albright attacked by Davis brothers
Keyshawn, Keon allegedly assault fighter after he defeated their brother Kelvin in the co-feature; also involved in backstage melee
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Blue-chip lightweight prospect Abdullah Mason did exactly what he was expected to do — dominate and stop former contender Jeremia Nakathila on Saturday night at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.
Mason tattooed and toyed with Nakathila from start to finish, opened a cut over his left eye got and got a fifth-round knockout when the doctor recommended the fight be stopped because Nakathila said he could no longer see clearly out of the damaged eye.
The fight headlined the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card but it was supposed to be the co-feature. The bout was elevated to headliner status on Friday after hometown WBO lightweight titlist Keyshawn Davis, due to make his first defense against Edwin De Los Santos, weighed in at 139.3 pounds — a whopping 4.3 over the division limit. Davis was stripped of the 135-pound title, the fight was canceled and Davis blew a seven-figure payday.
De Los Santos’ team declined to finalize a deal for the bout to go ahead, feeling as though Davis purposely did not make weight, which would put De Los Santos, already the heavy underdog, at an even greater disadvantage.
It put hot-shot prospect Mason into the biggest spotlight of his career and he shined even though his performance was somewhat overshadowed by the continuing Davis family meltdown that saw Keyshawn and younger brother Keon Davis, a welterweight, who knocked out Michael Velez-Garcia with a body shot in the second round on the undercard, physically attack junior welterweight Nahir Albright in his dressing room.
Moments earlier, Albright outpointed Kelvin Davis to hand the eldest of the three fighting Davis brothers his first defeat. He had previously fought to a no contest with Keyshawn.
While there was no video footage shown of the attack, Top Rank confirmed to Fight Freaks Unite that the incident occurred.
In an interview during the ESPN broadcast, Albright said the brothers head butted him. He had a large knot over his right eye that was not there after his win over Kelvin Davis.