Boxing Challenge; Stevenson Batters Herring

    The anticipated battle for the WBO junior lightweight title between veteran champion Jamel Herring and undefeated former WBO featherweight titlist Shakur Stevenson turned out to be a lopsided bout and the signature win in a career that could be filled with signature triumphs.

Shakur Stevenson's tenth round stoppage to take the title away from Jamel Herring may have been stopped a little early considering Herring's condition at the time but no one was complaining as Herring was taking a pounding and didn't even seem to have a puncher's chance of pulling a miracle victory out of the fire.

Herring may have been the champion but Stevenson was the solid favorite and Stevenson was too much for the aging champion from the opening bell and won all nine completed rounds on my scorecard.

Give Herring credit for trying to win as he tried to box Stevenson from the outside early in the bout after that didn't work, Herring attempted to rough the younger fighter up with borderline tactics on the inside that included some low blows to little success in shaking the confidence of Stevenson.

Stevenson's consistently landing of the right hand caused Herring's left eye to almost completely swell shut by the late rounds and when Herring was cut along the right eye in the ninth round, the doctor checked Herring's condition and reluctantly allowed the fight to continue before the fight was ended halfway through the tenth.

Herring hinted at retirement after the bout and for a fighter that turned his career around in his thirties by winning a title and making a few defenses, it may be time for a classy veteran to step aside, although it may have been that it was Stevenson that made Herring look old and slow.

As for Stevenson after the biggest win of his career, both Stevenson and promoter Top Rank both were calling for an early 2022 fight against WBC champion Oscar Valdez for two of the four belts at 130 pounds.

Stevenson vs Valdez is the best fight that can be made in the division and hopefully Top Rank will go straight to that fight rather than stuff an optional defense before the two can fight.

Shakur Stevenson has been compared to Floyd Mayweather in style from his opening professional fight and this fight also resembled early "Pretty Boy Floyd".

Stevenson was unafraid to sit down on his punches (People forget that 130 and 135 pound Floyd was an entertaining fighter) but yet use his speed on the offense rather than moving on defense and should he use that style again in a fight against Oscar Valdez, I'd bet on another superlative performance.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each added one point for the Stevenson win to move the total to 142-123.