Total domination: Stevenson stops Herring in 10th to take jr. lightweight title

Zayas, Ali Walsh and Holyfield shine on undercard

Oct 24, 2021

Shakur Stevenson has long said he wants to be a superstar in boxing. With more performances like the one he turned in on Saturday night he is on his way.

In a crowd-pleasing and dominating performance, Stevenson toyed with Jamel Herring en route to a 10th-round knockout to take his WBO junior lightweight world title in the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN main event before an announced crowd of 5,123 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

“I feel like Jamel Herring is a great fighter. He’s tough. He’s real tough,” Stevenson said. “He’s got great boxing skill, he’s got great power. I was just the better man tonight.”

He was the much better man. Herring simply could not cope with the younger Stevenson’s speed, skills and clean punches in the utterly one-sided fight that served as the most impressive performance of Stevenson’s burgeoning career.

“Younger, faster. He was sharp,” is how Brian “Bomac” McIntyre, Herring’s trainer, who has known Stevenson for years, summed up Stevenson’s performance. “I didn’t expect (for him to stand his ground). I didn’t expect that. I thought he was going to move like his last fight and other fights but, hey, they had a good game plan, he executed it and he got the win.”

Stevenson won the vacant WBO featherweight by near-shutout decision over Joet Gonzalez in 2019 before moving up to junior lightweight in his next fight, but Herring is a class above Gonzalez and Stevenson, who held the interim belt coming into the fight and was the mandatory challenger, manhandled him with ease.

“A sensational performance from Shakur Stevenson, who showed why so many think he’s the future pound-for-pound king,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said. “Jamel Herring displayed the heart of a champion, but he was in there with an incredible fighter tonight.”

Stevenson, a southpaw, was in a groove from the outset, landing quick right jabs and straight left hands. Herring, whose three career defeats have all come against left-handers, attempted to box with the superior boxer and had no success. After just the first round, McIntyre was imploring him to force Stevenson back.

But it never happened. Stevenson, known primarily for his superb defense and slickness, spent long portions of the fight standing his ground in front of Herring and essentially daring him to hit him.

But Herring (23-3, 11 KOs), 35, a Coram, New York, native, rarely could as Stevenson’s head movement was superb. All the while, he was landing combinations to the head and body and right hooks in one of his best offensive performances.

“Congrats to Shakur Stevenson. I want to apologize to everybody back home. I tried,” said Herring, a 2012 U.S. Olympian, who was making his fourth title defense. “He’s sharp and slick. His hand-eye coordination is very good. No excuses. He was the better man tonight. I started slow and after awhile I saw that I can’t do the chess match with him, so I had to bite down and show that grit and push forward.”

By the third round, however, Herring had swelling under his left eye. He tried to come forward and press the action, but when he did in the fourth round, he was met by a Stevenson right hand that almost lifted him off the canvas for a moment.

“A sensational performance from Shakur Stevenson.” — Top Rank chairman Bob Arum

The flurries from Stevenson continued to land in the fifth round, but Herring rallied briefly in the second half of the round. He landed a left hand on the inside and a body shot, but it was a short-lived burst. By the end of the round he had swelling around the rest of his left eye.

Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs), 24, of Newark, New Jersey, a 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist, hurt and wobbled Herring with a right hook to the head in the sixth round and was having his way. In the ninth round, he unloaded several combinations and an uppercut like it was target practice.

Late in the ninth round, Stevenson opened a cut over Herring’s right eye. Shortly after the 10th round began referee Mark Nelson called timeout to have the ringside doctor examine Herring’s bloody cut.

The fight was allowed to continue, but blood was pouring down the side of Herring’s face. After Stevenson connected with a right and a left, and Herring offered nothing in return, Nelson stepped in and waved off the fight at 1 minute, 30 seconds.

“I smelled blood,” Stevenson said when he saw the cut. “I saw he was bleeding and I’m like, OK, I got to attack the cut. So every punch I was looking for I was trying to touch the cut, touch the cut just to make the doctor stop it.”

Stevenson led 90-81, 90-81 and 89-82 at the time of the stoppage with one judge giving Herring the second round.

The CompuBox statistics illustrated Stevenson’s dominance. He landed 164 of 530 punches (31 percent) and Herring landed just 87 of 436 shots (20 percent). Stevenson outlanded Herring in every round and held him to single-digit connects in eight of the 10 rounds.

Stevenson and Herring have known each other for years and trained together at times. They were known as friends around boxing, but each rejected that label leading into the fight. Now that it’s over, they were back to being chums again.

“It was no friends because we were fighting. But now that we’re not fighting, I love Jamel Herring,” Stevenson said. “He’s definitely my friend. I got no problem with Jamel and tell his wife I’m sorry (for the harsh words). I don’t want no trouble with you! She’s tough!”

Said Herring: “Shakur’s gonna take over and continue being great. No hard feelings. We made up. We’re now friends. Shakur’s going to do great things. He’s a good kid. I hope he gets the bigger fights and I’ll be a fan watching.”

Stevenson singled out former two-division world champion and ESPN analyst Timothy Bradley Jr. for helping motivate him for the fight. In his last fight on June 12, Stevenson shut out Jermia Nakathila to claim the vacant interim title but it was a lackluster and sleep-inducing performance. Bradley was very critical of Stevenson and he heard it loud and clear.

“I want to thank Tim Bradley. He was criticizing me, calling me boring, so I wanted a fun fight,” Stevenson said. “I wanted to perform, show my skills, show my defense, my power. I showed everything tonight.

“I felt amazing. I want to be a superstar in the sport. I’m here to last. I take my craft very seriously. I’m disciplined. I did a strong camp. I appreciate my team. They got me ready. We was in the gym grinding.”

Herring’s future is unclear. He sounded like retirement is something he will consider.

“My man Bomac wants to just wipe myself off and go back to the gym. There’s no quit in me. I’ve been labeled everything but I wanted to show I push though anything, no matter what adversity,” said Herring, who made his first seven-figure payday. “At the same time, I do have to think about my family. No one expected me to get this far and I’m grateful, but I have to wait and see what happens next.”

As for Stevenson, he knows what he wants and it’s the fight Arum has said he wants to make in 2022: A unification bout between Stevenson and WBC titlist Oscar Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs), 30, of Mexico, who is also with Top Rank.

“There’s only one fight left at the end of the day. It’s the biggest fight in the division. Oscar can’t keep ducking,” Stevenson said. “It’s time for him to fight. It’s me versus Oscar Valdez. There’s nothing else to look forward to. The 130-pound division, we need to unify. Let’s get it.”

Zayas dominates Karpency

In the co-feature, Puerto Rican junior middleweight Xander Zayas became the first fighter to stop Dan Karpency, forcing him to retire in his corner after the fourth round of their scheduled six-rounder.

Zayas (11-0, 8 KOs), 19, of Plantation, Florida, dominated the entire fight and delivered a beat down to Karpency, whose face was marked up, bloodied and swelling.

Zayas, who won his fifth fight of the year, not only battered Karpency (9-4-1, 4 KOs), 30, of Adah, Pennsylvania, who was coming off a 20-month layoff, to the head, but he also punished him with many digging body shots.

In the third round, Zayas connected with a nasty right uppercut that connected clean and sent Karpency’s mouthpiece flying out of his mouth.

He did major damage to Karpency’s body in the fourth round, after which Karpency walked to his corner and signaled that he was done. For the fight, Zayas outlanded Karpency a staggering 97-21, according to CompuBox.

“My debut on ESPN, I feel amazing,” said Zayas, who was being televised on ESPN for the first time after fighting regularly on ESPN+. “I stopped a guy that was never stopped in eight years of a career. Man, I’m just blessed to be here. Now it’s just back to the gym. Overall, I think I made an improvement (from his September win). I showed that I can adjust and hopefully everybody enjoyed it.”
He hopes to fight next on Top Rank’s Dec. 11 card at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“I want to close out the year strongly and win prospect of the year,” Zayas said.

Ali Walsh stops Westley

Middleweight Nico Ali Walsh, the grandson of Muhammad Ali, scored two knockdowns and stopped James Westley II in the third round of their scheduled four-rounder in the ESPN opener.

“I’m happy that my pro debut went the way it did. There’s stuff, of course, I have to work on,” Ali Walsh said. “I’m blessed I’m following this legacy of my grandfather. I just love this legacy that I’m continuing.”

After a competitive first round, in which Westley landed several right hands, Ali (2-0, 2 KO), 21, of Las Vegas, who is trained by SugarHill Steward, took over in the second round.

With 10 seconds left in the second, Ali Walsh blinded Westley (1-1, 0 KOs), 36, of Toledo, Ohio, with a jab and came behind it with a right hand that connected cleanly and sent Westley to his rear end. He beat the count and the round ended. But seconds into the third round, Ali Walsh landed another right hand on the chin that dropped him again. He beat the count again but Westley’s corner threw in the towel and referee Nate Mann waved it off at 2 minutes, 30 seconds.

Overall, Ali Walsh outlanded Westley 42-20, according to CompuBox.

“I know the crowd got excited seeing him land a punch, but I truly didn’t feel the punch,” said Ali Walsh, who turned pro with fanfare on Aug. 14 and scored a first-round knockout. “Maybe it was my energy, my adrenaline, but my hat’s of to him and his team. Mutual respect.”

Holyfield drills Stanford

In his first hometown fight as a professional, junior middleweight Evan Holyfield (8-0, 6 KOs), the son of heavyweight legend Evander Holyfield, knocked Charles Stanford cold in the second round of their scheduled six-round preliminary bout.

Stanford (6-4, 3 KOs), 35, of Cincinnati, landed a few solid shots in the first round but Holyfield (8-0, 6 KOs), fighting on his 24th birthday and with his father at ringside, crushed him in the second round with a left hook and a hard right hand that knocked him out and caused referee Mark Nelson to stop it at 30 seconds. Stanford was down for a few minutes before leaving the ring under his own power.

Photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank

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