By Mark Eisner: Shakur Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs) was too sharp and accurate for WBO super featherweight champion Jamel ‘Semper Fi’ Herring (23-3, 11 KOs) in stopping him in the tenth round on Saturday night at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Referee Mark Nelson jumped in unexpectedly in the 10th round after Stevenson landed several shots on the spent-looking 35-year-ing Herring. The time of the stoppage was at 1:30 of round ten.
The stoppage was a little early, but it didn’t matter. Herring was a punching bag for Stevenson and he wasn’t going to win.
The fight was so one-sided that it was boring at times because Herring didn’t have the right answers for what the 24-year-old former WBO featherweight champion Stevenson was doing.
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- Undefeated junior middleweight prospect Xander Zayas (11-0, 8 KOs) continued his progression with a fourth round stoppage win over Dan Karpency (9-4-1, 4 KOs). Karpency took an enormous amount of punishment in the fight from the 19-year-old Zayas. After the fourth round ended, Karpency’s corner wisely pulled him out. All in all, it was a great performance from Xander, who showed that he has the potential to be a future world champion.
- Muhammad Ali’s grandson, middleweight Nico Ali Walsh (2-0, 2 KOs) showed off his punching power in stopping James Westley II (1-1) in a third round stoppage. The heavy-handed 21-year-old Nico Also Walsh dropped Westley in round two and three. The fight was stopped when Westley’s corner threw in the towel in the third after he’d been dropped. The time of the stoppage was at 2:30 of the third. Nico showed some potential tonight, but he needs to work on his defense. He’s got the power, but his defense isn’t where it needs to be for him to compete on the world stage at this stage in his development. Nico is young enough to develop in the next three or four years to possibly be a major in the future.
- In another fast knockout on tonight’s card, junior middleweight prospect Evan Holyfield (8-0, 6 KOs) stopped Charles Stanford (6-4, 3 KOs) in the second round. The time of the stoppage was at :30.
- Undefeated middleweight prospect/U.S Olympian Troy Isley (3-0, 2 KOs) destroyed an overmatched Nicoli Navarro (2-2, 2 KOs) by a first round knockout. The fight was halted at 2:48 of round one. Isley needs to be facing better opposition than this for him to keep improving.
- In a shocker, journeyman Eric Palmer (13-14-5, 1 KOs) pulled off a big upset in defeating prospect Roddricus Livsey (8-1-1, 5 KOs) by a six round split decision in light welterweight action. The scores were 58-56, 58-56 for Palmer, and 59-55 for Livsey.
- Unbeaten featherweight Haven Bradley Jr. (4-0, 3 KOs) defeated previously undefeated Roberto Negrete (3-1, 1 KOs) by a lopsided round unanimous decision. The judges scored it 40-36, 40-36, and 40-36.
- Undefeated Lightweight prospect Harley Mederos (2-0, 1 KO) defeated the winless Deljerro Revello (0-2) by a four round unanimous decision. The judge’s scores were 40-35, 40-35, and 40-35.
Jamel Herring & Shakur Stevenson sound off
Herring: “I know what he brings to the table. For me, I just need to go out there and be a dog. As I said in the past if you sit there and overthink and wait, he’ll [Stevenson] will pick you apart.”
Stevenson: “So you think being a dog is going to [help you win.”
Herring: “You got to change it up.”
Stevenson: “You don’t think I’ve fought no dogs?”
Herring: “I didn’t say that. You are a really, really good boxer. Chess-match-wise, I feel you’ll pick anybody apart if they just sit there, nervous, don’t know what to do.
“He’s going to hit you up, so you got to go out there and fight. You’ve got to take chances. You’ve got to take risks.
“That’s why I think it’s going to be a great fight because he has something to prove and I have something to prove within myself.
“It’s probably going to be something that people see when from not just myself but him as well.”
Stevenson: “I got to disagree with what you say that I don’t take risks and take chances. I mean, we’re going to base that off of one fight [Jeremia Nakathilia]?
“I feel like in my other fights when I went in there and fought Toka Kahn. Anybody else, when I go in there, I’m backing them up and doing what I’m supposed to do.
“We’re going to base that off of one fight? But that’s just fans, the media in how they persuaded it to be, but I disagree with that.
“Basically with all that, you got to realize that with what I’ve been doing in my career, I didn’t go through that because of how good I’ve been in the ring.
“You can’t really sit there and say, ‘What are you going to do?’ We don’t know if Jamel is going to go in there and make me face that kind of adversity.
“That’s all up to Jamel and me. I’m going to go in there and be the same Shakur I’ve been throughout my whole career, being dominating, winning fights easy.
“People don’t like it. They want competitive fights. They want fights where you’re going back and forth, back and forth. People don’t like one-sided fights.
“And people hate that. People want to see brawls back and forth, I hit you and you hit me.
“But my fights aren’t going to be like that. I don’t care what they tell me. They can say whatever they want. My fights are not going to be like that.”
Winning a decision is possible says Jamel
Herring: “Yes,” said Jamel when asked if he can win a decision and outbox Shakur. “Yes, but I have to be smart. He says he can outthink me, so I have to be smarter.
“I don’t go off the hype of the last fight. Every fight for me is different. Every fighter brings something different to the table. Frampton and him are totally different people.
“Even in his last fight, I don’t go based off that either because I know what he can do and he pointed it out. Everybody is going off of one fight.
“That’s why after his last fight, when I got on stage, I wasn’t going by what everyone was saying. Nah, because that’s stupid because I’ve been in that business before too.
“I been in that position with the Jonathan Oquendo situation going in and then when I went into the Frampton fight, I used that as fuel for the fire, and we saw how that played out.
“And I just got to be me. I got to add some more to the arsenal, but I can’t go out there and be something that I’m not,” said Herring.
WBO super featherweight champion Jamel Herring faces his toughest test as a pro against undefeated former blue-chip prospect Shakur Stevenson tonight in the headliner on ESPN+ and ESPN at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The card starts at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 PT.
Herring will be looking to ruin the ambitions of the former WBO featherweight champion Stevenson tonight. It’s a tall order for Herring, but he’s got the experience, boxing skills, and power to win.
Boxing News 24 will be giving updates below of the results of the fights: