SPORTS WRAP
STORY & PHOTOS BY WILLIAM HATHAWAY, JR.
This past weekend in the city of Newark, Top Rank boxing came back to the Prudential Center, and once again, Brick City native Shakur Stevenson was the star in front of a sellout crowd.
There was a seven fight undercard, and in the first bout of the night, Jaylan Phillips and Antoine Cobb fought to a draw in a 4 Round Welterweight fight. The next fight saw Kelvin Davis go the distance in a 6 Round Junior Welterweight bout, beating Nelson Morales.
In the Featherweight division, local area native Bruce Carrington scored a TKO 0over Brandon Chambers in the 2nd Round. Troy Isleyin went a full 8 Rounds in his Middleweight division win over Roy Barringer.
In the fifth fight of the night, heavyweight Damian Knyba beat Curtis Harper in the 8th and final round by way of TKO. The best fight of the night came when a tough Keyshawn Davis scored a TKO victory over Anthony Yigit in the 6th Round for the WBO International and US WBC Lightweight titles. Davis sealed the win with a brutal body shot.
Heavy touted heavyweight Jared Anderson beat up George Arias for the WBO International and WBC heavyweight via TKO after Arias’ corner called off the rest of the bout.
In the main event, Shakur Stevenson made his debut as a lightweight. His opponent Shuichiro Yoshino was said to have had doubts about Stevenson’ punching power after moving up in weight. In the WBC Lightweight Final Eliminator fight. Stevenson made Yoshino regret it, pounding him with power punches throughout. Although the bout was scheduled for 12 Rounds, fans of Stevenson know that he rarely lets a match go that long.
Before the start of the 6th Round, referee Allen Huggins told Yoshino he had to show him something, or otherwise that would be it. After suffering two knockdowns earlier from the Brick City prizefighter, Huggins saw that Yoshino had nothing left, and called a TKO. Stevenson is now 20-0 in his career, with 10 victories by knockout.
