What happens when you convert a tennis stadium in Queens into a boxing venue to showcase some of boxing’s best? I decided to find out for myself and check out the action at the Ring III card from Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Edgar Berlanga (23-2, 18 KO) started his career with sixteen consecutive first-round knockouts. The Brooklyn native lost a wide unanimous decision to Canelo Alvarez in September 2024 but had earned a title eliminator fight and a headlining spot on the Ring III card. Berlanga had the Queens, New York crowd behind him, particularly when Fat Joe and Remy Ma performed live during the Puerto Rican’s ring walk.
Unfortunately, Berlanga could not do the rockaway, or lean back from the punches of Hamzah Sheeraz (23-0-1, 18 KO). Sheeraz knocked Berlanga down twice towards the end of the fourth round before ending things seventeen seconds into round five. Berlanga did some good work early in round one, but once Sheeraz got a feel for Berlanga, he was a class above the native New Yorker.
Hamzah Sheeraz, of British and Pakistani descent, looked like a future star in the sport. Standing at 6 feet, 3 inches tall, with a 75-inch reach, Sheeraz effectively used his length and skill to make Berlanga regret all the trash talk and $100,000 side wager he initiated with Sheeraz in the leadup to the bout.
The bout was Sheeraz’s first fight at super middleweight, following a disappointing performance vs. WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames, in which many felt Sheeraz was lucky to escape with a draw.
In addition to changing weight classes, Sheeraz switched trainers to Andy Lee, moving his training camp from Los Angeles to Dublin, which immediately paid dividends. “Normally, when you go to new coaches, some things feel forced, certain conversations feel forced. [Lee is] a very, very, very sure and confident man because, you know what he’s done, he has been there and done it.”
Following Sheeraz’s fifth-round knockout victory, Andy Lee said, “I’m very proud of him and we’ve only scratched the surface of what he can do”. What could be next for Hamzah Sheeraz is a fight with Canelo Alvarez.
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Shakur Stevenson (24-0, 11 KO) vs. William Zepeda (33-1, 27 KO) for Stevenson’s WBC lightweight title was the other co-main event on the Ring III card. The bout was a clash of contrasting styles, with Zepeda’s volume punching facing off with Stevenson’s defensive wizardry. Some might characterize such bouts as boxer vs. puncher, while others may use the phrase bull vs. matador, or, as Turki Alalshiki has recently described it, Tom vs. Jerry. This description alludes to the classic cartoon in which Tom, the cat, constantly chases Jerry, the mouse. Alalshiki recently said that he wanted to see “fewer Tom & Jerry fights”.
Stevenson was not happy with being labeled as a runner, saying in the leadup to the fight, “If you call me Jerry, then I’m whooping Tom’s a**. That’s what I’m coming here for, so Tom & Jerry, Jerry is whooping Tom’s a** for sure.”
As he walked down to the ring at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Saturday night, a confident Stevenson wore a Tom and Jerry hat with Terence Crawford by his side and Many Men by 50 Cent blaring through the PA system.
From the opening bell, William Zepeda kept coming forward and throwing punches. But Stevenson was able to evade or block most of the punches thrown at him before landing a counter right hook or crisp combination through the guard of Zepeda. Anytime Zepeda landed a clean shot on Stevenson, his supporters cheered wildly. While Zepeda did land a big shot on an off-balance Stevenson towards the end of the third round, there was less and less for Zepeda’s fans to get excited about as the fight wore on. Stevenson became more comfortable engaging first and going toe-to-toe with Zepeda for stretches.
Zepeda, to his credit, kept pressuring Stevenson and trying to break through the defensive guard of the slick southpaw. But after twelve rounds, Stevenson had successfully defended his title yet again, winning 118-110 on two scorecards and 119-109 on the other.
This performance should silence many critics of the young three-division world champion. Stevenson is the latest in a line of defense-first fighters who win almost every round of all their fights yet receive criticism for not being entertaining enough. Floyd Mayweather, Terence Crawford, and Andre Ward, Stevenson’s mentor, were all stuck with that label at times. While his style might not suit every boxing fan, Stevenson’s status as an undefeated champion and top boxer in the sport is becoming indisputable.
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Beyond the co-main events, Subriel Matias (23-2, 22 KO) defeated Alberto Puello (24-1, 10 KO) by majority decision to win the WBC super lightweight title. One judge had the bout tied 114-114, while the other two judges gave Matias the edge, 115-113. When Matias was declared to be the new champion, the Puerto Rican contingent of the crowd erupted in jubilation.
The decision could have gone either way, but Matias pressed the action and had Puello fighting off the back foot for most of the bout. Matias spent much of the fight walking Puello down as Matias demonstrated the pressure and power punching that had earned him knockouts in all of his career wins. But as the fight went on, Puello was able to weather Matias’s pressure and began to land some slick counter shots and frustrate Matias. Though Puello won the last two rounds on all three scorecards, he could not overcome the work Matias did early on.
Following his victory, Subriel Matias was greeted in the ring by Dalton Smith (18-0, 13 KO), revealed to be Matias’s first challenger to his newly won title. That bout will take place in four months on the Ring IV card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Mike Coppinger reported on the broadcast that the winner of Matias-Smith will face Puello.
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In what could have been the best fight of the night, David Morrell (12-1, 9 KO) eked out a ten-round split decision victory over Imam Khataev (10-1, 9 KO) in a light heavyweight contest. Morrell, fighting for the first time since losing to David Benavidez, was knocked down in the fifth round but composed himself enough to win the final rounds and earn a victory.
But it was not an easy victory for Morrell. He was being hit cleanly by Khataev, the 2020 Russian Olympic bronze medalist, who looked like the better fighter in the first three rounds. In the fourth and fifth rounds, Morrell started to turn things around and seemed to have turned the tide until Khataev knocked Morrell down with a right hand near the end of the round.
Facing the prospect of two consecutive losses, Morrell dug deep and earned the split decision over Khataev.
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The opening bout saw top lightweight prospect Reito Tsutsumi move to 2-0 as a professional by defeating the overmatched Michael Ruiz (2-8-1) of Toms River, New Jersey. Tsutsumi dropped Ruiz three times, getting the stoppage 28 seconds into the second round and finally avenging Japan’s 1998 Little League World Series loss to Toms River, New Jersey.
Tsutsumi’s pro debut was a win on the Ring Magazine card in Times Square in May. Reito Tsutsumi is a Ring Ambassador, which means he is a brand ambassador for Ring Magazine. Tsutsumi exhibited a combination of speed and power that made it easy to see why Ring Magazine would support him.
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Ring III was a fantastic fight card. The venue was impressive, as the elevated stands gave everyone in attendance an excellent view of the proceedings. The crowd was into the action and got treated to some great fights. It was all that boxing fans could have hoped for in Queens for a day.