Nieves Not Letting Draw Sidetrack Him

New York, NY (6/22/15) – This past Saturday, undefeated Antonio “Carita” Nieves (12-0-1, 6 KO’s) of Cleveland, OH traveled to Oakland, CA to take on fellow undefeated prospect, Stephon “The Show Stopper” Young (13-0-2, 5 KO’s) of St. Louis, MO in the opening fight of the Andre Ward-Paul Smith televised card promoted by Roc Nation Sports on BET.

For the majority of the 8 round contest, Nieves pressed the action and landed combinations to both the body and head. Nieves was the busier and more effective of the two combatants as CompuBox proved by showing Nieves throwing more (499-329) and landing significantly more amount of punches (143-64) than Young.
“From the opening bell, I put the pressure on and was working his body and then would go upstairs,” said Nieves. “I set the tempo of the bout in the first round when I hurt him in the last 30 seconds. I felt he only won the 3rd round when he caught me off guard and the last round when I suffered a cut from a head butt and caught a cramp in my back preventing me to finish strong. Other than that, I thought I outfought him and showed the judges I deserved this fight.”
After the 8th and final round, it appeared that Nieves had won the battle of the undefeated fighters but, two of the judges thought otherwise. One of the judges had Nieves winning 77-75. However, the other two judges scored the bout 78-72 in favor of Young and the other had it even at 76-76.
Nieves’ manager, David McWater was equally disappointed as he felt that Nieves pulled out the victory. “I had Antonio winning 5-3,” said McWater. “I guess I could live with the even score. How the judge had it 6-2 for Young is absolutely mind boggling because Antonio out busied and out landed Young with more punches.”
With the draw, neither Nieves nor Young took a step back in their careers and should be lauded for agreeing to face each other at this stage of their careers.
“Both fighters should be commended for taking this bout because a loss would have set them back a bit but both wanted to prove their mettle on national television,” said McWater. “I’m sure these two will meet down the line when there is more at stake because both are extremely talented.”
“Hopefully we will get looks and other opportunities because of this fight and with the proper amount of time to prepare, you will see the Antonio Nieves that is among the top up and coming prospects in the country. Remember, we only had a week and a half notice to prepare so we had to cram a lot of southpaw sparring to get ready for the highly skilled Young. Taking that into consideration, I think Antonio did a great job but I know he is much better than what he showed.”
“I can’t wait to get back in the gym and get ready for my next bout,” said Nieves. “This draw just made me hungrier to take my boxing career to the next level.
“This fight was only a glimpse of what I can do.”