Stevenson unifies junior lightweight titles in dominating decision vs. Valdez
Davis, Ali Walsh, score KOs on prospect-heavy undercard
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LAS VEGAS — As the final seconds of the fight wound down Shakur Stevenson smiled widely and began to dance around the ring.
He knew what the 10,102 inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena also knew — that he had soundly outpointed Oscar Valdez in an entertaining summit meeting between the two best in the world at 130 pounds to unify the WBO and WBC junior lightweight titles, along with winning the vacant Ring magazine title.
Judges Dave Moretti and David Sutherland both had him winning 118-109 and Tim Cheatham scored it 117-110. Fight Freaks Unite also scored the fight 117-110 for Stevenson, who dropped to one knee, opened a ring box and proposed to his girlfriend and the mother his infant daughter moments after he was declared the winner.
He was 2-0 on the night.
“This victory means everything,” Stevenson said. “I told ya’ll what I was going to do. I said I’m gonna beat Valdez, (training partner) Canelo (Alvarez) and (their trainer) Eddy Reynoso, so that was my game plan, beat the whole team and I feel good about it. Much respect to them, but that was my game plan.”
The fight had been some five years in the making, since Stevenson turned pro on the undercard of a Valdez featherweight title defense in 2017. Though Stevenson was winning the rounds on the scorecards, the early rounds were tight and competitive.
But in the sixth round, Stevenson, like Valdez also a former featherweight titleholder, scored a knockdown and from there continued to build his lead in more one-sided rounds.
The fight began slowly but with Stevenson establishing his jab and keeping Valdez away throughout most of the first round. Valdez tried to pressure Stevenson in the second round but could not do much of anything against Stevenson’s movement and jab. Valdez finally seemed to find a rhythm in the third round and landed several straight right hands to force Stevenson back.
The fight fell into something of a pattern with Valdez having success when he could force Stevenson back and Stevenson was the boss when he kept he fight in the middle of the ring and used his hand speed and movement.
In the sixth round, Stevenson nailed Valdez with a pair or right hooks, the first of which sent him stumbling into the ropes and the second sending him to the mat for a knockdown. Valdez did not appear very hurt but his face was beginning show the wear of a tough fight.
Valdez (30-1, 23 KOs ), 31, a 2008 and 2012 Mexican Olympian, who was making his second title defense, had a good bounce-back round in the seventh as he forced Stevenson to the ropes with a right hand and also attacked his body when he was on the ropes, but it was short-lived success.
Stevenson (18-0, 9 KOs), 24, a southpaw from Newark, New Jersey, 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist, who was making his first title defense, was in total control by the ninth round. He fired jabs and sweeping left hands that caught Valdez, who tried to push forward but could not land much. It was more of the same in the 10th round. In the 11th round, referee Kenny Bayless issued Stevenson a warning for head butting.
Valdez continued to press forward in the 12th round but there seemed to be little urgency while Stevenson caught him with a few good shots along the ropes and then wrestled with him on the inside before dancing around the ring to kill the final seconds.
“What a masterful performance from Shakur Stevenson against a great champion like Oscar Valdez,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said. “He is one of the very special talents in the sport.”
Valdez was humble in defeat.
“He has great boxing skills. He was just the better fighter this night,” Valdez said. “He did what he had to do to win the fight. He’s a great fighter. His speed is there. Power is there. He was just he better fighter tonight. Overall, a great fighter.”
According to CompuBox statistics, Stevenson landed 189 of 580 punches (33 percent) and Valdez landed 110 of 508 (22 percent). The 110 landed punches on Stevenson were the most by an opponent, a hollow stat for Valdez.
“I want to collect all the belts at 130 and become undisputed,” Stevenson said. “I deserve to be a superstar, so that’s what I gotta do.”
Davis shines in co-feature
Lightweight prospect Keyshawn Davis, who claimed a silver medal at this past summer’s delayed Tokyo Olympics, dominated Esteban Sanchez en route to a sixth-round knockout in the co-feature.
He boxed and moved but also was fast with his jab and left uppercuts. Sanchez tried to get rough with Davis but had minimal success.
Davis pounded Sanchez into a corner in the fifth round and had him in big trouble, but he survived the onslaught. Moments later, Davis landed another series of vicious shots, including a flush left hook, but Sanchez (18-2, 8 KOs), 23, made it out of round.
Davis (5-0, 4 KOs), 23, of Norfolk, Virginia, hurt him again early in the sixth round with a series of hooks and later forced him to the ropes. When he landed a dynamite right uppercut referee Robert Hoyle stopped the fight at 2 minutes, 44 seconds.
“I just kept staying steady, staying with my rhythm,” Davis said. “My coach (Brian McIntyre) kept telling me to go the body. I was trying to stab him a lot in the rounds, and honestly, I was just picking up round after round. I loved this fight because it challenged me. I felt challenged in the ring. I was happy I got a great performance and the stoppage.”
Ali Walsh erases Ibarra
In the opener of the ESPN-televised main card, Las Vegas middleweight Nico Ali Walsh (5-0, 4 KOs), 21, the grandson of Muhammad Ali, scored a titanic first-round knockout of Alejandro Ibarra (7-2, 2 KOs), 28, of Denver.
“This is just a testament to all the work I put in. Stuff like this happens when you put the work in,” Ali Walsh said. “I’m bringing my grandpa back to life, and that’s why mom gets so emotional because she’s seeing her dad again and hearing her dad’s name to me.”
The fight was Ali Walsh’s first professional bout in his hometown and he delivered impressively.
Ali Walsh took control from the outset, moved Ibarra around the ring and then as the round wound down, stuck a jab in his face and came over the top with a right hand that landed flush and dropped Ibarra hard. Referee Russell Mora knelt by the fallen fighter and then vigorously waved it off at 2 minutes, 50 seconds.
“I was setting him up with the right hand,” Ali Walsh said. “I noticed his left hand was going down when he threw the jab. I was trying to counter it, and that’s what I did. I wish the best for him and his team. He’s a true warrior. But I just waited for that setup, and I saw it and I took advantage.”
Also on the undercard
Robert Garcia-trained lightweight up-and-comer Raymond Muratalla (14-0, 12 KOs), 25, of Fontana, California, pounded Jeremy Hill (16-3, 11 KOs), 29, of New Orleans, in a one-sided third-round knockout win.
Muratalla dropped him in the first round and punished him and nearly stopped him in the second round. In the third round, he finished Hill off with a left uppercut followed by a flush right on the nose that knocked him down hard and forced referee Tony Weeks to wave it off at 2:27.
In an action-packed but mostly one-sided fight, Las Vegas junior lightweight Andres Cortes (17-0, 10 KOs), 24, knocked out Alexis del Bosque (18-6-1, 9 KOs ), 27, of Dallas in the sixth round. They traded with abandon for most of the fight but with Cortes usually getting the better of it.
In the toe-to-toe fourth round, Cortes pounded del Bosque, including knocking him down with a body shot. He barely beat the count but was able to come back and land some punishing shots.
But in the sixth round, Cortes landed a savage three-punch combination punctuated by a right hand that dropped del Bosque, who had a bad cut over his right eye. He beat the count but was very wobbly and referee Celestino Ruiz waved it off at 43 seconds.
Middleweight Troy Isley (5-0, 3 KOs), 23, a 2020 U.S. Olympian from Alexandria, Virginia, dropped Anthony Hannah (3-3, 2 KOs), 30, of Augusta, Georgia, twice in the second round for a knockout victory. After Isley floored Hannah for the second time with a right hand, Hannah’s corner threw in the towel and referee Robert Hoyle called it off before finishing the count at 2:33. Isley won his third fight since returning to the pros following last summer’s delayed Tokyo Games.
Cleveland lightweight prospect Abdullah Mason (2-0, 1 KO), an 18-year-old southpaw, who turned pro at age 17 in November, overpowered Luciano Ramos (1-3, 0 KOs), 27, of Argentina, in the first round of their four-rounder. Mason took it to him from the outset, hurt him repeatedly and when he forced him to the ropes and was blasting away, referee Tony Weeks stopped it at 2:32.
Junior welterweight Antoine Cobb (1-0-1, 1 KO), 26, of Chicago, who is a friend and training partner of Stevenson’s, and Jaylan Phillips (1-2-1, 1 KO), 22, of Ebro, Florida, fought to a spirited majority draw. Two judges had the fight 38-38 and one had it 39-37 for Phillips.
Photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
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Stevenson looks so much bigger in the ring. Valdez was game and really didn’t get a beat down, but we don’t need to see a rematch. He was clearly outsized and out classed last night.