Tahmir Smalls remained undefeated with an eight-round welterweight fight of undefeated welterweights the Red Owl Box Arena in Houston.
Smalls, 147.6 lbs of Philadelphia won by scores of 78-74 and 77-75 twice and is now 12-0. Martin, 147.2 of Atlanta is 10-1.
“My corner told me to keep popping my jab and to keep my hands up,” Smalls noted. “Martin caught me with a right hand or two but that was due to me dropping my left hand. I was picking it up at the end of the fight. I will go back to the gym and work on it.”
“This was my first eight-round fight,” said Smalls. “It was exactly what I expected. But there were a couple of things that I could tighten up on. He was a good opponent and he brought more than I thought but at the end of the day, I handled it the way I was supposed to.”
Elijah Williams scored a controversial sixth round stoppage over Dion Jones in a eight-round super lightweight fight.
In round one, Jones dropped Williams with a short counter left hook. In round three, Williams was cut over the left eye.
In round six, Williams landed a hard right that hurt Jones. Jones was holding on, but the referee for some reason stopped that bout and the fight was halted at 1:58.
Williams, 145 lbs of Newburgh, NY is 10-1 with four knockouts. Jones, 139.8 lbs of Las Vegas is 7-1.
“I did what I had to do, he is a good fighter,” said Williams. “I got a little careless at times, especially early in the fight.”
“It’s up to the referee how the fight goes,” continued the 21-year-old Williams. “I was going for the kill so all he did was stop it a little early.”
Joshafat Ortiz survived an opening round knockdown to eek out a six-round unanimous decision over Travis Crawford in a junior lightweight bout.
In round one, Crawford dropped Ortiz with a right uppercut.
Ortiz, 128.8 lbs of Reading, PA won by scores of 58-55 twice and 57-56 and is now 13-1. Crawford, 128.6 lbs of Corpus Christi, TX is 7-3.
“You have instant replay, you saw what happened,” said the 29-year-old Ortiz. “He stepped on my foot but not taking anything away from him.”
“No credit away from my opponent but everytime I come into this ring, I bet on myself and I knew what I could do tonight,” said Ortiz
Dash Simmons stopped Nosa Divine Nehikhare in round four of their six-round light heavyweight bout.
In round three, Simmons dropped Nehihhare with a left hook.
In round four, Simmons landed a left hook to the top of the head that put Nehikhare down again. when he got to his feet, the bout was waved off at 1:10.
Simmons, 182.2 lbs of Ashville, NC is 5-0 with five knockouts. Nehikhare, 181.6 lbs of Kaba, Nigeria is 5-3
“I just had to calm down,” said Simmons. “I competed at a high level in the amateurs and now I am getting back to that in the pros. My coaches told me to keep working my jab because this was the first time I faced a southpaw in the pros. Shout out to Red Owl for this opportunity.”
Steve Cunningham Jr. remained undefeated by winning a four-round majority decision over Rudy Reveles in a junior middleweight fight.
Cunningham, 156 lbs of Philadelphia won by scores of 39-37 twice and 38-38 and is now 3-0. Reveles, 154.6 lbs of Las Vegas is 1-1.
“I was definitely looking for the knockout but you can’t expect it all the time,” said Cunningham, Jr. “I had a really rough training camp but it’s different in the ring. I just have to get in the ring a little bit more and get the ring rust off – and I will be better.
“Ever since I was in diapers, I was around high-level boxing,” continued Cunningham, Jr., the son of former two-time cruiserweight world champion Steve Cunningham. “It’s in my blood. It’s nothing you can train for. I feel great and I want to get right back in there. I want to show the world who I am.”
Gustavo Rivera Rio scored six-round unanimous decision over Joseph Cruz in a junior lightweight bout.
Rivera, 130 3/4 lbs of Houston won by scores of 60-54 on all cards and is now 11-1. Cruz, 129 1/2 lbs of Ciudad Obregon, MX is 9-11-1.
“I faced another tough Mexican just like me, I knew he wasn’t going to fall down so I had to put on my boxing skills tonight,” said Rio, who is trained by the renowned Ronnie Shields. “I was landing my left hook so I was told to repeat it and that’s what I did.”
