The headbutt came into play twice in the Top Rank bubble in Las Vegas and it didn't come from Bobo Brazil or "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas either as clashes of heads in each fight played key roles in the evening's results.In the main event, Jamel Herring retained his WBO junior lightweight championship when Jonathan Oquendo was disqualified in the eighth round for headbutting.
Herring got off to an excellent start and dropped Oquendo with a left uppercut in round three, although Oquendo didn't seem to be seriously damaged.
Oquendo kept charging forward in his awkward manner and the head clashes opened a cut over the right eye of Herring in the fifth round resulting in a point deduction from Oquendo.
Oquendo did win the seventh round on my card and seemed to have Herring rattled a bit with the constant rough and tumble manner.
The remaining rounds were looking to be interesting, but Herring informed the doctor that he couldn't see from the cut and the fight was stopped.
Confusion reigned in the ring as at first the scorecards looked to be in play, but that wouldn't have mattered as Herring held two points in hand for the point deduction from Oquendo and the third round knockdown ( I had Herring up 79-71).
Instead, Oquendo was ruled to be disqualified as the headbutts opened the Herring cut and worsened it.
It didn't matter to me whether the scorecards were consulted or not, the win was going to Herring either way, but some did question the resolve of Herring after the fight.
The cut was severe, but blood wasn't pouring from it and it did seem that Herring wasn't pushing to continue.
On the contrary, Herring was far ahead against a fighter that was leading with the head, was a rugged fighter, and was coming off his best round of the fight, I couldn't blame Herring or his corner for taking the victory and moving on.
My question is this- If Herring wanted to shine and not take punishment, why did they sign to fight Oquendo, who despite his limited skills will be a rough and dirty fight in the trenches?
Since Oquendo was an optional defense, perhaps another opponent may have been a superior selection.
Herring will move on for a rumored fight with Carl Frampton with more questions than answers.
I'm not questioning Herring for "quitting", I wasn't there and I don't know the answer, but at worst Herring will have these questions hang over him for at least the Frampton fight if not longer.
Herring-Frampton may be delayed a month or so longer due to Herring's cut, but I'm looking forward to seeing which fighter can answer their questions in a fight that has many to answer.
In the co-main event, the headbutt came into play as headbutts opened cuts on undefeated super middleweight Steven Nelson against DeAndre Ware.
Unlike Jamel Herring, Nelson had enough after round five when he returned to his corner with blood coming from two cuts around his left eye and finished Ware off in the sixth with an aggressive attack had Ware stunned and staggering around the ring on weakened legs giving referee Jay Nady little choice other than ending the fight.
I was impressed with Nelson, who continues to be undefeated, and took his best win as a professional after his win over Ware, but he'll have to start to be moved quickly as he's already 32 and in a division that has two champions with Matchroom (WBA Callum Smith and WBO Billy Joe Saunders), another with PBC (IBF Caleb Plant) and the WBC title currently vacant, Nelson will have to work his way to a mandatory position to get a title shot.
Nelson was only ranked by the WBO (8th) entering this fight, although he may enter some of the organization's ratings after this win, so Nelson and Top Rank need to keep him active and moving up the rankings.
Ramon Malpica added three points to my two on the evening, with the difference being the Steven Nelson knockout.
Ramon knocked a point off my lead to 103-97.
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