In a controversial win, WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez (20-1, 13 KOs) defeated Jamaine Ortiz (17-2-1, 8 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Thursday night at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
Robbery ?
The scores were 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113, all for Teofimo. This writer scored it for Jamaine Ortiz 118-110. The 117-111 score for Teofimo was troubling, making it clear that Jamaine never had a chance with these judges.
Teofimo fought well enough to win two rounds only, the seventh and eleventh round. Jamaine totally outclassed him.
After the fight, Teofimo was booed by the crowd, and went on a long rant, gloating about his win. He then called out Terence Crawford.
U.S. Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn Davis 10-0, 7 KOs) stopped the struggling former two-division world champion Jose “Sniper” Pedraza (29-6-1, 14 KOs) by a sixth-round knockout.
Keyshawn looked enormous in size compared to Pedraza, like a rehydrated welterweight. It would be interesting to know how heavy Keyshawn is tonight.
Davis, 24, unloaded a flurry of shots against the older, weaker, and much smaller 34-year-old Pedraza in the sixth round, resulting in the referee stepping in and stopping the contest.
The crowd was booing Keyshawn’s lack of action through the fifth round. He wasn’t throwing many punches against the older fighter, who looked over the hill.
Keyshawn did a lot of illegal straight arming with his left, punishing off and holding, and not looking like a future superstar like promoter Bob Arum had thought he would be when he signed him coming out of the Olympics.
It’s unclear why Top Rank picked such an old fighter like Pedraza for Keyshawn to fight. Pedraza hasn’t won a fight since 2020, four years ago. If they wanted Keyshawn to prove something, they should have matched him against Andy Cruz, who beat him four times in the amateurs.
Raymond Muratalla or Abdullah Mason would be good options for Keyshawn as well. Both of those guys like better fighters than Keyshawn, despite being younger.
“Teofimo, I’ll go up to 140 and fight him,” said Keyshawn after the fight. “Navarrete, it would be an honor to get in the ring with you.”
Top Rank isn’t going to match Teofimo or Navarrete against Keyshawn because he’s not popular, and he was getting booed tonight because his style is a mix of Shakur and Devin Haney.
Middleweight prospect Javier Martinez (10-0-1, 3 KOs) outworked the slugger Raul Salomon (12-3, 10 KOs) in winning an eight-round unanimous decision. The scores were 78-74, 79-73 and 79-73.
Martinez did a poor job of making Salmon pay for the pressure he was putting on him, frequently allowing him to walk right in on him.
Salomon seemed to gas in the sixth, allowing Martinez to cement the win with his work rate. Still, it wasn’t impressive stuff from Martinez, as he looked bang average.
19-year-old bluechip lightweight prospect Abdullah Mason (12-0, 10 KOs) scored a highlight reel second-round TKO win over previously unbeaten Benjamin Gurment (8-1-3, 5 KOs).
Mason landed a monster straight left that put Gurment down in the second round to get the knockdown. The time of the stoppage was at the 1:29 mark. Moments earlier, Mason had hurt Gurment with a straight left to the head after trapping him against the ropes.
Mason then continued to land lefts one after another until Gurment fell against the ropes, causing the referee to give him a standing eight count.
He then told Gurment that he would keep him on a short leash and would stop it if he continued to take punishment. As it turns out, he didn’t have to do much because Mason ended the fight with his first shot after the action resumed.
Mason looks like a future star in the lightweight division and another fighter in the Top Rank stable that could easily eclipse the two fighters the promotional company is trying to turn into superstars, Shakur Stevenson and Keyshawn Davis.
Mason is arguably more interesting than those guys and has true stardom written all over him if he can handle the top-level opposition once he gets to that stage.
Unbeaten lightweight Charlie Sheey (9-0, 5 KOs) put on a boxing clinic, defeating the powerful Abdel Saucedo (12-4, 8 KOs) by a tougher-than-expected eight-round unanimous decision. The scores were 80-72, 80-72, and 80-72.
The 25-year-old San Franciso native, Sheey controlled the fight with his jab and movement. In the third round, Saucedo was cut under his left eye from a hard jab from Sheey.
Saucedo was relentless, pressing Sheey the entire fight, missing often, but stunning Sheey in rounds four, six, and seven with big shots. Sheey looked tired by the sixth round and was caught frequently.
Lightweight prospect Alan “Kid Kansas” Garcia (11-0, 9 KOs) destroyed Tomas Ornelas (7-4, 5 KOs), knocking him out in the first round of a six-round. The 21-year-old Kansas native, Alan Garcia, dropped Orelas twice.
After the second knockdown, a huge left to the body, the referee stepped in and halted the fight. The time of the stoppage was 51 seconds in the first round.
In the first knockdown, Garcia landed a scorching left hook to Orenlas’s temple, causing him to stagger and fall. Moments later, Garcia finished the job with a hard left to Orenlas’s body, putting him down.
Although Orenlas beat the count, the referee waved it off after looking closely at how hurt he was. That body shot from Garcia was devastatingly powerful, and there’s no way Ornelas could have lasted more than a second before being dropped again by Garcia.
Where did Top Rank find Alan Garcia? This guy fits in perfectly for the lightweight division, along with their other young 135-lb prospects, Raymond Muratalla and Abdullah Mason.
Those three are huge punchers and highly entertaining, and they are perfect replacements for Shakur Stevenson if he chooses to stay retired. Top Rank is like a machine with how they continually find these great talents to sign with their company.
