In progress: Title fight: Marcus Brown vs. Jean Pascal, 12 rounds, for Brown’s WBA interim light heavyweight title
Omotoso knocks out Stevens
Junior middleweight “Lucky Boy” Wale Omotoso scored three knockdowns in a third-round knockout of Curtis Stevens in an action-packed bout.
Omotoso came into the fight 2-3 in his last five matchups and was coming off a shutout 10-round decision loss to Chordale Booker in May, but he rebounded in impressive fashion against Stevens, a longtime middleweight, who was moving down in weight.
Omotoso (28-4, 22 KOs), 34, a Nigeria native fighting out of Oxnard, California, scored a knockdown in the first round when he landed a right hand to the head that sent Stevens to all fours, but he did not appear to be badly hurt.
But when Omotoso dropped Stevens with another right hand midway through the second round, Stevens looked far more shaky when he got up.
Stevens seemed to get himself together for the third round when he came out blasting and hurt Omotoso several times and was knocking him all over the ring. But Omotoso rallied as they exchanged heavy punches in a fierce exchange during which Omotoso caught Stevens with a heavy right hand on the chin and he collapsed to the canvas. Stevens got to one knee and beat the count, but he was in no shape to continue and referee Johnny Callas waved the fight off at 1 minute, 28 seconds.
“My coach told me to keep my hands up, be patient, box him and jab,” Omotoso said. “He told me I shouldn’t push it and that when the opening was there, I’d take it. That’s exactly what happened. I was just letting my hands go. On the second knockdown, my confidence grew. I was glad to get the victory by knockout. I didn’t expect it to go exactly like that. I’m thankful for this opportunity. I’m so happy to have this win. Give me anybody next. I’m ready.”
Stevens (30-7, 22 KOs), 34, of Brooklyn, whose lone world title opportunity came against then-middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin and resulted in an eighth-round knockout loss in 2013, was bidding for his second win in a row since a hellacious third-round knockout loss to David Lemieux in a 2017 middleweight fight.
“He hit me with an overhand right in the first round that knocked my equilibrium [off],” Stevens said. “But that didn’t really affect me too much. I wasn’t stepping enough into my punches. I was reaching. I got caught when I was reaching. I was OK, but the referee has to do his job. I was down three times so I know he was looking out for my best interests.”
Stevens-Omotoso was elevated onto the televised portion of the card when former two-time welterweight world titleholder Andre Berto suffered a torn biceps last week, forcing his bout with Miguel Cruz to be called off.
More undercard results
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Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s Marsellos Wilder (5-1, 2 KOs), 30, the younger brother of heavyweight world titlist Deontay Wilder, won a sloppy decision over Nicoy Clarke (2-4, 0 KOs), 38, a southpaw from Jamaica, in their cruiserweight bout. Wilder won 40-36, 40-36 and 39-37 in a fight filled with grappling and holding.
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Heavyweight Brian Howard (15-3, 12 KOs), 39, of Atlanta, scored an emphatic upset first-round knockout of Carlos Negron (20-3, 16 KOs), 32, a former Puerto Rican Olympian. Howard unloaded an onslaught of punches, including a massive right hand that dropped Negron in a heap and he nearly rolled out of the ring as referee Shada Murdaugh waved it off at 1 minute, 8 seconds. Negron, who outweighed Howard 242.2 pounds to 207, was down on the mat receiving medical attention for a few minutes after the fight. He lost his second fight in a row after having been knocked out by Dominic Breazeale in the ninth round in December.
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Welterweight Brian Jones (15-10, 9 KOs), 32, of Clarksville, Texas, pulled the upset in a fifth-round knockout of Brooklyn’s Julian Sosa (13-1-1, 5 KOs). Jones dropped Sosa, 23, with a combination in the fourth round and was credited with another knockdown when Sosa touched his glove to the mat in the fifth round. Later in the fifth round, as Jones was taking it to Sosa, referee Earl Brown waved it off at 2 minutes, 28 seconds.
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Junior featherweight Helen Joseph (16-3-2, 10 KOs), 32, a Nigeria native fighting out of New Haven, Connecticut, dominated Edina Kiss (15-10, 9 KOs), 29, of Hungary, en route to a shutout decision. She dropped Kiss in the second round and won 60-53 on all three scorecards.
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Junior middleweight Kestna Davis (4-0, 0 KOs), 24, a Jamaica native fighting out of Vauxhall, New Jersey, easily outboxed Jaime Meza (0-3), 30, of Compton, California, en route to a shutout decision win: 40-36 on all three scorecards.
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Featherweight Cobia Breedy (14-0, 4 KOs), 27, of Hyattsville, Maryland, outfought Ryan Lee Allen (9-4-1, 4 KOs), 26, of Jackson, Michigan, to win a clear decision in an entertaining fight. He won 99-91, 99-91 and 97-93.
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New York welterweight Arnold Gonzalez (2-0, 0 KOs), 24, cruised to a shutout of Jeremiah De Los Santos (0-4), 20, of Harlingen, Texas, winning 40-36 on all three scorecards.
Still to come:
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Adam Kownacki vs. Chris Arreola, 12 rounds, heavyweights
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Keeshawn Williams vs. Mario Alberto Perez Navarro, 4 or 6 rounds, welterweights