Shakur Stevenson Beats Nakathila, Pump The Brakes On Mayweather Comparison

Shakur Stevenson (16-0, 8 KOs) defeated Namibia’s Jeremiah Nakathila (21-2, 17 KOs) via unanimous decision, 120-107 on all three judges scorecards to win the vacant WBO interim junior lightweight world title Saturday at The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. 

The fight was awkward, and in a bout that looked to be a fight that was Stevenson making a statement to the 130 lbs division, Stevenson dominated, but the lanky Nakathila made the fight awkward as Stevenson threw no more than two punches at a time as Nakathila had a solid power.

Stevenson knocked down Nakathila in the fourth round, and seemingly two other times in the bout, those were ruled slips.

Yet, a theme of the telecast was to compare Shakur Stevenson to Floyd Mayweather, which is very premature, though Stevenson is a special fighter. Shakur Stevenson is fine in his development, but to set expectations so high, make it hard for any fighter to live up to that burden from a fan’s perspective.

Stevenson looks to have added muscle to his frame and is adapting to the 130 lbs division, and after the fight wasn’t pleased with his performance.

“To be honest, I didn’t really like my performance. I felt I could’ve performed a lot better, but it was an awkward fighter,” said Stevenson. “You had an awkward fighter throwing hard punches, and he knows how to grab and getaway. He was a real awkward fighter. That’s all.”

As for what Stevenson wants next, he made that very clear.

“If I had the choice, I’d take Oscar Valdez, but if I had to beat up Jamel {Herring} to get to it, I’ll do that, too.”

Jose Pedraza Stops “Hammer Hands” Rodriguez

Two-weight world champion Jose “Sniper” Pedraza (29-3, 14 KOs) made it look easy as he used all of his tricks of distance control to tempo and rythmn tampering to defeat Julian “Hammer Hands” Rodriguez (21-1, 14 KOs). Pedraza’s jab was accurate and rarely missed and in the mid-rounds Pedraza switched to southpaw, which added further trouble for Rodriguez.

Rodriguez’s left eye bang to swell up and bruise from the jabs and right hands and following the eighth round, he told his corner he could no longer see out of the eye prompting a stoppage.

Pedraza is now riding a three-fight winning streak since losing his junior welterweight debut to Jose Zepeda.

Undercard notes: Super featherweight Manuel Rey Rojas (21-5, 6 KOs) picked up a unanimous decision over Tyler McCreary (16-2-1, 7 KOs)

140 lbs John Bauza (15-0, 6 KOs) picked up a second-round technical knockout of Christon Edwards (12-3, 6 KO). Bauza, a known big puncher in the gyms, translated his power to the pros well tonight. An interesting future bout for him would be against Josue Vargas.

Rising welterweight star Xander Zayas (9-0, 7 KOs) picked up a third-round knockout of “Lethal” Larry Fryers (11-4, 4 KOs), 1:02. The 18-year-old Puerto Rican boxer continues to impress with his power, as he is accumulating big wins early and often.

130 lbs Bryan Lua (8-0, 3 KOs) got a six-round decision over Frevian Gonzalez (4-1, 1 KO), as his power was too much for Gonzalez to overcome. On the telecast, it was teased the winner will get a big fight next. So Lua will now get a big chance to shine

Middleweight: Troy Isley (2-0, 1 KO) got a fourth-round knockout of LaQuan Evans (4-2, 2 KOs). 2:26. Isley was one of my favorite amateurs transitioning to the pros, will now head off to represent Team U.S.A. in the Olympics.

Welterweight: Kasir Goldston (3-0, 1 KO) UD 4 Maurice Anthony (3-2, 3 KOs), Goldston is one of the most mature and poised young fighters for his age.

Welterweight: Jahi Tucker (4-0, 2 KOs) UD 4 Ysrael Barboza (3-2-1, 3 KOs), Tucker continues to impress