I will be covering the two cards from ESPN+ from Saturday here and the DAZN and Showtime cards tomorrow with two tremendous upsets involved on those two programs!
From Newark N.J., Shakur Stevenson staked his claim in the lightweight division with a dominant performance in a WBC eliminator against Shuichiro Yoshino.
Stevenson was never mildly pressed by Yoshino and knocked him down twice in the second and fourth rounds before battering him in the sixth to force the stoppage.
My scorecard had Stevenson up 50-43 at the time of the stoppage
Stevenson is transitioning into a more exciting fighter by moving less but still remaining elusive for opponents to find and while Yoshino may have been sent from central casting as the perfect foil, don't allow that to take away from Stevenson's effort- he looked terrific and should this version of Stevenson continue to evolve, he might not only be the best of the lightweight division, he may be the most exciting as well.
Top Rank placed arguably their two best prospects at the top of their supporting card with both scoring victories.
Heavyweight Jared Anderson didn't score a knockdown. Still, he did control a reluctant George Arias until hurting Arias late in the third round with the corner calling it a night for the previously undefeated Arias.
It may not have been a brilliant outing for Anderson but it showed that he's ready to jump a level in opponent quality as Arias wasn't a remotely substantial test.
Lightweight Keyshawn Davis stopped former title challenger Anthony Yigit in the ninth round of a lightweight tilt that was filled with headbutts and sloppy fouls from each man.
Davis and Yigit each committed their share of fouls with Davis literally landing a knee-lift reminiscent of Mr. Wrestling II to Yigit's face in the seventh round.
Davis crushed Yigit with seconds remaining in the eighth with a punishing body shot to send him to the floor that may have been better suited to end the fight but Yigit surprisingly rose and even more surprisingly came out for the ninth before Davis swarmed over the Swede to finish the fight.
I had Davis ahead comfortably at 79-73 at the end of the fight.
Earlier in the day from Tokyo, Kenshiro Teraji retained his WBA and WBC light flyweight titles with a ninth-round knockout of late replacement Anthony Olascuaga in an excellent action battle.
The quality of the fight was a surprise considering Olascuaga stepped in on a few weeks' notice for WBO champion Jonathan Gonzalez and was facing Teraji in only his sixth pro fight.
Teraji won six of the first seven rounds on my card but Olascuaga was constantly winging right hands and landing his share against the perpetually attacking Teraji often enough to make things entertaining.
And it became even more interesting with Olascuaga stunning Teraji in the eighth as out of nowhere it seemed as if a major upset was very possible.
However, Teraji may have decided that the fight may have been getting too close for comfort as he quickly leaped on Olascauga early in the ninth, sending him to the floor where referee Mark Nelson decided he had seen enough.
For Teraji, another action battle with a unification pairing against Jonathan Gonzalez coming up as soon as it can be re-scheduled, and for Olascuaga, gritty more than describe his outing under extraordinary circumstances.
I'm sure we will see Olascuaga again soon in the 105-pound division.
Takuma Inoue picked up the WBA bantamweight title that his brother Naoya vacated with a unanimous decision over Liborio Solis.
Takuma doesn't punch anywhere near as hard as Naoya but he controlled the second half of the fight with the aging Solis tiring badly down the stretch.
I scored Inoue a 117-111 winner, which agreed with the middle of the three scores of 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112.
Takuma has only four knockouts in his eighteen wins, so my guess is that Takuma's title defenses will be kept as easy as possible with those defenses held in Japan until an eventual mandatory against a top foe would be forced.
Japan's Reiya Abe dominated former junior featherweight and featherweight champion Kiko Martinez with an easy unanimous decision in a featherweight eliminator for the IBF.
Not much to say about this one as Martinez charged ineffectively as Abe scored easily with countershots or easily moved away from the Spanish veteran.
I gave Martinez the first two rounds and Abe the final ten for a score of 118-110.
The judges saw Abe as the winner at 119-109 times two and 117-111.
Boxing Challenge
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