07/12/25 10:12:00
Printable Page
07/12 22:11 CDT Shakur Stevenson defends lightweight title by beating Zepeda at
home of US Open tennis tournament
Shakur Stevenson defends lightweight title by beating Zepeda at home of US Open
tennis tournament
By BRIAN MAHONEY
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --- Shakur Stevenson remained undefeated and defended his WBC
lightweight title with a dominant performance in the first boxing card held on
the grounds of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, beating William Zepeda by
unanimous decision Saturday night.
One judge favored Stevenson 119-109, while the other two had it 118-110 for the
2016 Olympic silver medalist.
Stevenson (24-0) won just before Edgar Berlanga and Hamzah Sheeraz fought in
the final bout of the night in Louis Armstrong Stadium, the No. 2 venue at the
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
But it was a main event-level performance from Stevenson and the first wide
victory of the night after the previous two bouts were close right to the
finish.
Zepeda (33-1) landed a left hand shortly after the opening bell that drew a
smile from the champion, and he was able to get inside a number of times to
unload a series of shots at Stevenson. But he was often powerless to stop the
flurries that were coming back at him from Stevenson's hand speed that is up at
the top of boxing.
The Ring Magazine held its second fight card in New York after staging one in
Times Square in May. Tickets weren't sold then and just a few hundred people
were able to see it, creating an atmosphere where the scene was impressive but
the sounds were almost non-existent, leaving fighters to say it felt like a
sparring session.
This time, seats were sold and many were occupied well into the second deck of
the 14,000-seat stadium, which had its retractable roof closed to create
comfortable conditions on a humid day.
And the fans saw good action early in a brilliant performance from Stevenson,
who has been criticized at times for a style that that seems too dependent on
avoiding pain and not dishing it out.
But he seemed happy to trade Saturday and most times came out ahead when he did.
Zepeda did trap Stevenson in a corner to score with some shots in the third
round, bringing his Mexican fans out of their seats, but many other times
Stevenson's quick head movement allowed him to dodge potential trouble. By the
middle of the fight, Stevenson was firing off two, three, sometimes four
unreturned shots
There was a title change in the previous fight, when Subriel Matias (23-2)
edged Alberto Puello (24-1) by majority decision to take the WBC's 140-pound
belt.
Before that, Cuban David Morrell (12-1) got up from a fifth-round knockdown to
rally late and edge Imam Khataev (10-1) by split decision in a light
heavyweight bout.
___
AP boxing: https://apnews.com/boxing
|
