Fast Results from the ‘Bubble’: Herring Retains His Title in a Messy Fight

Bob Arum’s Top Rank organization, which has done more than any other promotional group to keep boxing alive during these challenging times, was back at their summer home in the MGM Grand “Bubble” tonight with the 15^th installment of their 2020 Summer Series. And for the third straight Saturday, the main event was a title fight. Risking his belt was WBO 130-pound title-holder Jamel Herring against Jonathan Oquendo.

An ex-Marine and former Olympian, Herring, 34, was making the second defense of the title he won from Masayuki Ito and when the smoke cleared, he retained his belt when his Puerto Rican adversary was disqualified after the bell ending the eighth round.

The first two rounds were marred by a lot of clinching, a portent of what would follow. Oquendo went down twice in the second round and again in the sixth for what referee Tony Weeks deemed to be slips. Herring knocked him down legitimately in the third with a clean uppercut but Oquendo wasn’t seriously hurt.

In round five, Herring suffered a cut over his right eye from a head butt that Weeks thought was intentional. He deducted a point from Oquendo.

When the blood started flowing more copiously in the eighth round, Herring packed it in. His vision was definitely compromised.

That led to a long conversation between Weeks and the Nevada Commission which determined that since the cut was intentional, the official verdict would be a win for Herring by disqualification. A DQ between rounds, needless to say, is highly unusual, but the bottom line is that Herring (22-2) retains his title and Oquendo (31-7) may well be called on the carpet at the next NSAC meeting.

Jamel Herring’s next title defense is expected to come against Carl Frampton.

Co-Feature

Omaha super middleweight Stephen Nelson, a stablemate of Terence Crawford, advanced to 17-0 (14) with a sixth-round stoppage of Toledo’s DeAndre Ware (13-3-2). Nelson overcame two bad cuts around his left eye, the first coming in round two and the second in round five, both the result of accidental head butts. There were no knockdowns, but Ware was rocked twice and was on unsteady legs when referee Jay Nady stopped it. The official time was 2:24.

Although DeAndre Ware lost tonight, he made many new friends during his Vegas stay with his actions at yesterday’s weigh-in when he came to the rescue of Pete Susens. The popular 63-year-old Susens, a long-time Top Rank employee who earned his spurs as a twenty-something gadabout on the Midwestern boxing circuit, suffered a heart attack and Ware, a Toledo firefighter, stepped in and performed chest compressions that may have saved his life.

The good news is that Susens was alert when he was transported to the hospital.

Other Bouts

Jared Anderson, the youngest, the busiest (and the best) of Top Rank’s young heavyweight prospects, scored his sixth knockout in as many tries with a fourth-round stoppage of Rodney Hernandez (13-10-2). Hernandez didn’t appear badly hurt when Anderson put him on the canvas with a left-right combination, but the fight had been one-sided to that point and there really was no point in continuing.

San Antonio mighty-mite Jesse Rodriguez demolished Puerto Rico’s Janiel Rivera, scoring three knockdowns before the bout was halted at the 2:03 mark of the opening round. The 20-year-old Rodriguez, the half-brother of new WBA 115-pound champion Joshua Franco, improved to 12-0 (8). It was the fifth straight loss for Rivera (18-7-3).

In what has to be considered an upset, 36-year-old San Antonio welterweight Benjamin Whitaker outworked previously unbeaten D’Andre Smith to win a six-round unanimous decision. Whitaker improved to 14-4 and evened his record at the MGM Bubble to 1-1. The scores were 59-55 and 60-54 twice.

Smith, who hails from Decatur, Georgia, lost for the first time in nine starts. All three judges for this fight were women which may have set a record.

Ruben Cervera, a 23-year-old Colombian super featherweight, blasted out New Orleans Rennard Oliver in the second round. A hard right hand did the trick and Cervera snuck in another before referee Russell Mora waived it off at the 1:42 mark. Cervera improved to 13-2 with his 11^th knockout. Oliver fell to 7-3-3.

Fort Worth super featherweight Edward Vazquez overcame a knockdown in the second round to stay undefeated with a unanimous decision over LA’s Adam Ochoa. The judges favored Vazquez (8-0, 1 KO) by scores of 57-56 and 58-55 twice. Ochoa (11-2) entered the contest riding a nine-fight winning streak.

In the opener, 19-year-old Philadelphia featherweight Rashiem Jefferson Jr. improved to 2-0 with a four-round unanimous decision over LA’ Jose Martinez (2-2). The scores were 39-37 And 40-36 twice.

Jefferson Jr, a southpaw, is a second-generation boxer and appears to have a big upside. His father of the same name had a promising pro career aborted by an injury suffered in a motorcycle accident.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams for Top Rank

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