Baltimore native Malik Hawkins (18-1) suffered his first loss on Saturday night.
Hawkins was stopped in 7th round by Subriel Matias.
I make no excuses I loss. Respect to Matias he was the better man tonight. I’ll bounce back.
— Malik Iceman Hawkins ❄️??♂️18-0/11 KO’s (@MalikHawkins20) October 25, 2020
Hawkins regular trainer, Calvin Ford has been working with Gervontaa Davis and wasn’t available for this fight. Kenny Ellis stepped in for Ford.
From the second round on, Hawkins fought at Matias’ style and pace. The close quarters fighting got Hawkins out of his comfort zone.
Matias totally imposed his will on Hawkins, who landed just 12 jabs in last 6 rounds after landing 12 in opening round. Matias landed 122 of 367 power shots @ShowtimeBoxing
— CompuBox (@CompuBox) October 25, 2020
It was obvious early on that Matias didn’t respect Hawkins’ power. Throughout the fight he walked in with his hands down and Hawkins couldn’t make him pay. Hawkins’ jab couldn’t keep Matias as a comfortable distance.
The doctor checked on Hawkins before the fifth round because of the amount of punches he was taking. In the fifth round Matias hurt Hawkins with a combination that was finished with a clean left hook. For the first time in his career, Hawkins suffered a knocked down in the sixth round.
All three judges had Matias winning 59-54 at the time of the stoppage.
