Late replacement Willie Nelson turned in his performance as a professional by scoring a ten round unanimous over previously undefeated Yudel Jhonson in a Jr. Middleweight bout at the Texas Station Casino in Las Vegas.
It was an action packed fight that featured Nelson dropping Jhonson from a hard right hand in round two. Nelson was able to land some hard right hand shots as the fight progressed.
The fight turned in round four as Jhonson landed a booming straight left to the middle of Nelson’s head that sent the 6’4″ Nelson crashing down to the canvas. It was such a perfect shot that it was surprising that Nelson was able to beat the count.
Jhonson was able to box well over the next couple rounds until Nelson was able to start landing some long lefts and rights that kept Jhonson on the outside. Those shots caused some swelling around the right eye of Jhonson. Nelson had a good round nine by landing some solid combinations. Nelson put an exclamation on the fight in the final round by landing a good left that staggered Jhonson.
Nelson outpunched Jhonson to the tune of 136 of 534 while Jhonson landed just 77 of 377.
Nelson, 151 1/2 lbs of Cleveland won by scores of 97-92 on two cards and 95-94 and is now 18-1-1. Jhonson, 151 1/2 lbs of Santa Clara, CUB is 12-1.
“It was my fighter’s instinct that got me back to my feet after that knockdown,” said Nelson. “But once I got up, I was only hurt for a couple more seconds.”
Jhonson felt differently about the knockdown. “The referee did a poor job. He gave [Nelson] a lot of time to recover from that knockdown,” said Jhonson. “I thought I did enough to win.”
Nelson added, “I will definitely be staying at 154 pounds. I felt great in there. I can’t be beat at this weight.”
Badou Jack scored a razor thin split decision over Alexander Brand in a eight round battle of undefeated Super Middleweights.
It was a close battle the could have gone either way that saw Jack trying to box more conventional but was befuddled by the unorthodox Brand.
It was appear ant early that Brand was going the be in the fight as he rocked back, jumped in and threw punches from all angles. Jack did his best work on the ropes while Brand was able to score best in the middle of the ring.
Jack, 167 lbs of Stockholm, SWE won by scores of 77-75 on two cards while a third card had Brand ahead by a 77-75 tally. Jack is now 11-0. Brand, 166 1/2 lbs of Bogota, COL is now 17-1
“[Brand] was awkward and he didn’t want to fight. I had to press him to get to him,” said Jack after the fight. “I will do better next time.”
