ShoBox: The Next Generation lived up to its name on Friday night as Interim Champion, Dmitry Bivol successfully defended his title.
WBA Interim Light Heavyweight Dmitry Bivol successfully defended his title in dominating fashion over Samuel Clarkson. Bivol knocked Clarkson down twice in the first round and finished off his overwhelmed opponent with a KO in the 4th. Bivol is now 10-0 with 8 KOs. It was an impressive performance worthy of a champion. He landed 46% (61-134) of his power punches, 35% (92-262) overall.
Bivol was please with his performance. “I thought I would finish him in the first round, but I think it was better that it went to four rounds because the fans were able to see the way I fight. “I’m definitely ready for my title shot against (Nathan) Cleverly in my next fight. I’m ready.”
Clarkson landed 23 of 152 (15%) for the entire fight.
The co-feature saw Malik Hawkins stop Carlos Soto. The doctor at ringside stopped the fight after the 2nd round as Soto’s eye was in bad shape. Hawkins had floored Soto in the first round.
The best fight of the night was Leroy Davila vs. Glenn Dezurn. The judges at ringside scored the fight 78-74 on all three scorecards in favor of Dezurn but the fight was much closer than the score. The Showtime post-fight poll was very close. 36% for Dezurn. 33% for Davila. 31% called it a draw. The Making the Cut scorecard had the fight scored 77-75 for Davila.
The other fight of note was the debut of Hasim Rahman Jr. Rahman Jr. didn’t disappoint the partisan crowd as he KO’ed Ralph Alexander 4o seconds into the first round.
Other Undercard fights:
Ruben Villa defeated Luis Diaz – TKO 6th round
Michael Dutchover defeated Eder Amaro – TKO 3rd round
Joey Dawejko Draw Rodney Hernandez – 77-75 Dawejko, 78-74 Hernandez, 76-76
Sergey Kuzmin defeated Carlos Cotto – TKO 3rd round
Travis Reeves defeated Taneal Goyco – 78-74, 80-72
Marcus “Mook” Washington is the host of Making The Cut. Follow Mook on Twitter: @mtcwithmook and IG: MTCWithMook
