WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez (20-1, 13 KOs) was given a controversial 12-round unanimous decision win over Jamaine Ortiz (17-2-1, 8 KOs) in the main event on Thursday night in an unpopular victory at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
Jamaine Ortiz gave Teofimo a boxing lesson tonight, making him look bad, an uncoordinated fighter with no ability.
The Nevada judges, however, gave it to the A-side fighter, Teofimo, by the scores 117-111, 115-113, and 115-113. The reality is that Teofimo was given another gift by the judges, worse than his controversial victory over Sandor Martin.
This writer had it for Jamaine Ortiz 11-1 tonight. The only round Teofimo appeared to win was the seventh. Other than that, he was outboxed and out-punched by Ortiz.
Lightweight contender Keyshawn Davis 10-0, 7 KOs) got the knockout that he was hoping to get, stopping a very weak and old-looking former two-division world champion Jose “Sniper” Pedraza (29-6-1, 14 KOs) by a sixth-round knockout. The time of the stoppage was at 1:09 of the sixth.
Keyshawn flurried on Pedraza in the sixth round, burying him with punches against the ropes until the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.
After the fight, Keyshawn called out Teofimo Lopez and Emanuel Navarrete, making it clear he wanted a big payday for his next fight.
In Middleweight action, Javier Martinez (10-0-1, 3 KOs) defeated Raul Salomon (12-3, 10 KOs) by an eight-round decision in a fight that was closer than the scores.
Salomon walked Martinez down the entire fight, landing heavy shots on the inside and making it entertaining. The judges’ scores were 78-74, 79-73, and 79-73.
Abdullah Mason (12-0, 10 KOs) looked amazing tonight, destroying Benjamin Gurment (8-1-3, 5 KOs) by a second-round knockout. In the second round, the 19-year-old southpaw Mason flattened the 31-year-old Gurment with a left to the head. The referee waved it off immediately at 1:29 of the round.
Mason had knocked Gurment down moments earlier with a left to the head, causing him to fall into the ropes. The referee counted it as a knockdown because the ropes held Gurment up.
This performance from Mason shows that Top Rank has a great future that they need to push quickly, especially with Shakur Stevenson retired and likely leaving if he returns and finishes the final fight of his contract with them.
Mason is a much more entertaining fighter, and he’s got the power to capture a world title quickly at lightweight.
Lightweight Charlie Sheey (9-0, 5 KOs) outboxed Abdel Saucedo (12-4, 8 KOs), winning an eight-round unanimous decision.
Although overmatched skill-wise, Saucedo hurt Sheery several times in the fight and had him on the move throughout the contests. The scores were 80-72, 80-72, and 80-72.
Powerful lightweight prospect Alan “Kid Kansas” Garcia (11-0, 9 KOs) made fast work of Tomas Ornelas (7-4, 5 KOs), stopping him in the first round.
Garcia, 21, landed a thundering left hook to the body of Orelas to put him on the canvas for the second of two knockdowns.
The referee halted the contest after Orenlas got back up after noting that he still looked hurt from the vicious body shot that Garcia had dropped him with.
In the first knockdown of the round, Garcia landed a left hook counter to the temple of Ornelas, causing him to stagger and fall. The sound of that punch landing was like a gunshot.
Garcia’s power on that punch was out of this world good and would have dropped anyone in the lightweight division.
The official time of the stoppage was at 51 seconds of the first round. Garcia looks like he could be destined for world title honors at some point in his career.
