Stevenson and Nakatani Victorious in Top Rank’s 2020 Curtain-Closer

Stevenson and Nakatani Victorious in Top Rank’s 2020 Curtain-Closer

The first and last of Top Rank’s 2020 MGM Bubble shows featured Shakur Stevenson. Back on June 9, in his first start at 130 pounds, he scored a sixth-round stoppage of Felix Caraballo. Tonight, in a fight that was anticlimactic after the fireworks that preceded it, Shakur pitched a shutout over game but outclassed Toka Khan Clary, winning every round on all three scorecards.

It was a battle of southpaws and is often the case, it was something of a snoozer with each round mirroring the rounds that preceded it. In advancing his record to 15-0, the former U.S. Olympic silver medalist out-landed his light-hitting opponent by roughly a 3/1 margin. Toka Khan Clary (28-2-1), the Liberia-born Rhode Islander, reverted to fighting off his back foot in the opening round and never landed a meaningful punch over a 23-year-old fighter who just may be the successor to Floyd Mayweather Jr as the sport’s best defensive fighter.

Co-feature

In a 10-round lightweight contest, Masayoshi Nakatani upset Felix Verdejo, rallying from a big deficit to stop the former Olympian in the ninth round. Verdejo knocked the lanky Japanese down hard with a long right hand in the opening round. Nakatani got up on unsteady legs and quickly fought his way back into the fight only to be knocked down again in the fourth stanza. But in the seventh round he turned the tables and kept the pressure on through the ninth when he hit Verdejo with a straight left hand that sent the Puerto Rican slumping to the canvas after flying into the ropes. Verdejo was clearly hurt when he arose and Nakatani needed only one punch to force the stoppage.

Verdejo (27-2) had won four straight heading in. Nakatani, who was coming off a 17-month layoff, suffered his only loss at the hands of Teofimo Lopez, losing a 12-round unanimous decision in his U.S. debut. Tonight, he improved his record to 20-1 (13) and set himself up for a potential rematch.

Berlanga

After 16 pro fights, super middleweight sensation Edgar Berlanga still hasn’t heard the bell ending the first round (nor have his opponents). Like the 15 men that came before him, Ulises Sierra was whacked out in the opening stanza.

San Diego’s Sierra, who entered the bout with a 15-1-2 mark and hadn’t previously been stopped, was on the deck three times before referee Russell Mora waived it off. The official time was 2:40. The 2019 TSS Prospect of the Year, the 23-year-old Berlanga is a budding superstar and may have already crossed that threshold in New York’s Puerto Rican community.

Other Bouts

Clay Collard’s Cinderella run through the MGM Bubble came to halt when he lost by unanimous decision to former foe Quincy LaVallais in a middleweight contest slated for eight. The undefeated (10-0-1) LaVallais won by scores of 78-74 and 77-75 twice. This was a rematch. They had fought to a 6-round draw on LaVallais’ turf in New Orleans in June of last year. Collard, who also competes in MMA, slumped to 9-3-3.

Flyweight Jesse Rodriguez, a 20-year-old San Antonio southpaw who trains in California at Robert Garcia’s boxing academy, improved to 13-0 (9) with an impressive second-round stoppage of Mexico City’s Saul Juarez (25-13-2). The end came at the 2:05 mark with Juarez taking the 10-count as he lay face down on the canvas after absorbing a wicked left uppercut.

It was the fourth straight loss for Juarez, a two-time world title challenger who had been stopped only once previously, that coming very early in his career. Rodriguez is the brother of current WBO 115-pound world title-holder Joshua Franco.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez, the last man to defeat Shakur Stevenson, won his fifth straight after suffering a shocking loss in his pro debut with a sixth-round stoppage of 22-year-old Colombian Brandon Valdes (13-2) in a featherweight contest slated for eight. Ramirez pinned Valdes in his corner and unloaded a barrage of punches, forcing referee Russell Mora to intervene. The official time was 2:49.

Teenage wonderkids Kasir Goldston and Haven Brady Jr won as expected in early bouts. Goldston, a 17-year-old junior welterweight from Albany, NY, advanced to 2-0 (1) with a second-round stoppage of Llewelyn McClamy. Eighteen-year-old featherweight Brady Jr (2-0, 2 KOs), stopped Michael Land who retired on his stool after two rounds. Brady, from Albany, Georgia, is reportedly a full-time college student in Atlanta who trains in Toledo, Ohio. The kid gets around.

A scheduled six-round welterweight clash between Elvis Rodriguez and Lawrence James Fryars had to be scratched when Rodriguez tested positive for Covid-19. A 24-year-old southpaw from the Dominican Republic, Rodriguez (10-0-1, 10 KOs) hoped to put an exclamation point on his Prospect of the Year campaign.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank via Getty Images

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