This was the first fight in the main arena at MSG that I attended since Klitschko-Jennings. I have been to the theater a few times notably for Golovkin-Stevens and most recently this July when Zayas won the title with Carrington on the undercard. Stevenson-Lopez The atmosphere for the main event ring walks and introductions was the loudest I have heard a crowd in a while. Zayas got good reception from the Puerto Rican crowd but last night was a party atmosphere. I normally don't care for elaborate ceremony type of **** but Teofimo's ring walk was awesome. The crowd was into it, very pro NY not too many vocal Shakur fans minus this one lady from Newark screaming **** him up throughout every round. The crowd got fired up seeing Michael Buffer in there and it touched on all of the big fight nostalgia. On the jumbo tron Stevenson looked nervous in the dressing room (turned out to be wrong) and Teo looked like a guy who has been in this atmosphere before. It bordered on him being supremely relaxed or clowning too much and not being focused. In the first round it was abundantly clear that they were not in the same class. Stevenson's jab alone dominated the fight with the occasional sharp counter left. A few times Teo seemed bothered by the punches though I wouldn't quite say he was ever rocked. I sat in a pro-Teo section minus a few guys a few seats over quietly bragging and celebrating. Two guys on my right bet Teo and a few in front of me bet Teo on a parlay that was about to hit. I was being a boxing nerd and writing out a scorecard on paper and the guys kept turning around and asking who I gave each round to until it was clear that the fight was not close. One guy was like I gave 3 rounds to Teo, I had only given 1 at that point. Shakur much like Davis in his fight really has emulated or benefited from being with Crawford. Shakur and Davis were just so good at maintaining and controlling range. Shakur did not run or dance, he stood in the pocket or just out of range and picked Teo apart with his jab. Teo's low left slowed his jab to a predictable speed and Shakur either backed just out of range or countered with his left. Teo could not attack and was not able to play the matador either. In the pre-fight I felt that Shakur's left to the body could be an X factor but it was largely absent until the midway part of the fight. The first round I gave to Teo was the 8th and Shakur sort of eased up in the second half of the fight. Lopez started doing a little better and Stevenson sort of just reverted to jabbing. Shakur's best round I felt was the 11th where after a slower pace picked it up and landed a few lefts that snapped Teo's head back and I thought if he picked up the pace he might get a TKO on attrition I don't typically watch the big screen at fights because I feel like its like watching it on TV and negates the reason for being there. I will look at highlights to see if a punch landed or missed. When I saw Teo's eyes on the big screen I was surprised at how puffy they were. I also noticed the cut after the 8th but was not sure if it was a punch or butt. I liked how they had Benn confront Stevenson to set it up but it felt forced and I really don't care about a Benn fight. I would like to see another east coast match up with Stevenson vs Hitchins maybe at Barclay Center or Prudential though that may not be a big ticket seller Davis vs Ortiz I thought this fight looked good on paper, I made the risky pick of Ortiz by upset decision. I thought with the layoff, at the new weight and given Davis's behavior in losing the title that he could slip on a banana peel here. Davis won this fight easily. Ortiz was very boring vs Teofimo Lopez and I sort of expected him to have the same negative style. After the first round it was clear that Davis was a much better boxer and much better at range. I thought Davis looked much better than he has in previous fights. I only found one round to score to Ortiz off the back of one solid left hand in a round where Davis was a bit passive. Davis controlled the range and forced Ortiz to be the bull at times. Ortiz would try to do this darting in style with a lot of quick foot taps and bum rushes that resulted in clinches almost like a tackling sled in football. Ortiz just had no idea how to close distance and score. He swung big on a few right hooks and missed badly. Davis worked the body well which eventually ended the fight. 2 guys next to me made bets that Davis would score a KO, one bet the 4th and the other the 6th. I was laughing a little because they made the bets in round 2 and I'm thinking what gives you the indication that this is about to be over?! Either way Ortiz was a survivor and kept moving and trying to jab but could not get anything going. I thought the fight would make the bell but once Ortiz's eye began to close he started losing track of the right hand. I agreed with the stoppage as Ortiz was finished. I loved the Haney call out and I think that is a great fight to make, I think Davis has a great chance to win
Carrington vs Castro The M.O.P walkout in the Yankee colors and stripes got the crowd going. Castro rocked Carrington in the fourth and it looked like it might be interesting. Carrington got his bearings and waved in Castro which got the crowd excited. I had the fight even after six rounds before Carrington got in control and started dominating. His left hook was very effective along with his sharp right hand counters. Castro was very game but was beginning to get out classed. The first right hand counter that rocked Castro appeared to knock him out but their bodies came together and held him up. The other 3-4 unanswered shots were icing on the cake and put him over. Castro was down for a while after the fight ended but he got up ok. I liked the 126 lb champ call out and hope he can get one of those fights I was at the Heita fight in July and was not impressed with Carrington's offense or punching power. It was nice to a see a young fighter improve from one performance to another
Miller vs Ibeh This fight was awful. I like Ibeh and watched him on ESPN during the COVID cards and find his comeback from the Anderson loss admirable. This fight was 1 part hockey fight 1 part sumo match. I appreciated Ibeh trying to dance and get room to punch but Miller just swarmed him and had better body punching and some nice uppercuts when he would get slight separation. I actually thought Ibeh did pretty well when he had room and their were a few times when Miller fell in out of range and was wide open not counters and got clocked. Ibeh caught Miller with some big shots in the second round and knocked the toupee off which was hilarious. I though the guy a few seats over was going to have an asthma attack he laughed the whole round break until his girlfriend told him "ok enough". I did not see the statistics for the fight but it felt like there may have been more body punches than head punches. Outside of a few exchanges this fight was terrible and that was off the back of the incredibly boring Ammo Williams fight. The crowd rightly boo'd the Ibeh scorecard. I had it 97-93 Miller but Ibeh did some good work in the rounds he lost. I wished the ref would have taken some points and made them fight at range and box.
Almaayouf vs Castillo This was the surprise of the night, the best fight of the card. I sat by some fans of Castillo and the Ziyad fans were above our section and ringside. We all boo'd Ziyad hoping Turki and his team would hear us. Chants of Zizo Zizo would come out and we would chant sucks after each one. Almaayouf dropped Castillo with a great right hand and I was thinking this will be short. Castillo climbed back into the fight and I have him every round from there on. I felt maybe I was being biased or influenced by the people in my section and felt vindicated when Feldman had the same score. Castillo landed some big right hands and ripped the body. Ziyad spit his mouth piece out in two consecutive rounds without a warning leading us to boo loudly at the ref. Ziyad's eye was a mess and he was getting bossed in there. The rounds were competitive with good punishment coming each way.