Three Great Performances -- Stevenson, Davis, Carrington

There have been two defensive fighters in modern boxing who have stood above the rest: Pernell Whitaker and Floyd Mayweather Jr. They had different styles. Whitaker was all about pocket defense. Not an escape artist, instead, he would use a variety of techniques to avoid getting hit while he stayed in range to counter. He usually was in front of his opponent, but somehow exceedingly tough to hit cleanly.  

Mayweather, with his Philly shell defensive construct, took away the ability to land combinations. He was the master of the counter and the spin out. There wouldn't be four and five punches in a sequence against Mayweather because he wouldn't be in the pocket long enough for such a firefight. One could land a single big shot on him, but that was it. More often, he was the counter-and-move guy.  

From this seat, Shakur Stevenson is the best defensive fighter in boxing since Mayweather. That may sound like a hot take, but it's not; it's easy to see. He's a master on defense with a variety of ways to neutralize an opponent. He’s had fights where he's used his legs to stay almost completely out of fighting range. Against Oscar Valdez, he was brilliant at taking away Valdez's primary knockout weapon, his left hook.  

Against Teofimo Lopez on Saturday, his defense was closer to Whitaker's. He stayed in front of Lopez, planted just beyond Teo's reach. He waited for Lopez to fire off a shot and he would counter with something pinpoint in return. It could be the counter jab, the straight left, an uppercut; it didn't matter. Teo's patterns were so obvious to him, that Stevenson could score at will with whatever shot that he chose. 

Stevenson (left) dominated from range
Photo courtesy of Cris Esqueda/Matchroom

Before and after the fight, Stevenson remarked that he believed Lopez, who entered the fight as the Ring Magazine champion at 140-lbs., would be an easy fight for him, that he had been fighting styles like Lopez's since he'd been eight years old. And for the most part, he made it look that easy in the ring; he won a unanimous decision, 119-109 on all three scorecards.  

Stevenson left no doubt about his superiority in the fight. Not only did he have quicker hands, but he also had a longer reach and more accuracy with his punches. Throughout the fight, Lopez tried to come in as the aggressor, but he was easily thwarted by Stevenson's mastery of range, timing and accuracy.  

I was talking with a group of people in the weeks leading up to the fight and all of us picked Stevenson to win big. We started discussing the different game plans that Stevenson could use throughout the fight.  

But then I posed a tougher assignment to the group: come up with a game plan where Teofimo could win. This task was not accepted by most in the group; they couldn't see it. But I was fascinated by this. How would one devise a strategy where Lopez, who had all sorts of physical and technical disadvantages, as well as not having knockout power at 140, could be victorious.  

I came up with a potential solution. Keep it really low volume. Walk around the ring. Don't ever lead. Force Stevenson to be first. Make him reach or hesitate. In this low-volume fight with Stevenson uncomfortable as the initiator, Teo only needed to land a couple of big shots a round, with the thought that Lopez's big shots might look better than Stevenson's. I thought this strategy would be Lopez's best play.  

Yet when I saw Lopez rush at Stevenson with lead hooks round after round on Saturday, I knew that he was in trouble. He couldn't win that fight.  

By the seventh round, I noticed that Lopez was starting to look at the fight differently. Now he was circling. He was often by the ropes. He wouldn't let his hands go. And then something strange happened; Stevenson wouldn't let his hands go either. At the very least, Lopez started to neutralize Stevenson's good work. 

I thought that Lopez had a good 7th, a dominant 8th and was having an excellent ninth until he got cracked by a straight left from Stevenson at the end of the round, which was one of his best punches in the fight.  

But after that period of relative success, Lopez wouldn't commit to the less-is-more approach. He then went right after Stevenson as he had earlier in the fight and the same thing occurred: complete domination from a master counterpuncher.  

It was clear that Lopez and his father/trainer saw themselves as dominant alpha figures. They didn't want to use subterfuge or disengagement strategies to win (this is how Kelly beat Murtazaliev to win a title on Saturday). They were there for a scalp and they played right into Stevenson's hands.  

It will take a special performance to beat Stevenson or maybe the right guy who could land a bomb from the outside. But at the very least, it's going to take a fighter and trainer who understand relative strengths and weaknesses at a very high level. I'm not sure that Teo would have beaten Stevenson even if he had put forth the perfect strategic fight, but there was a huge gulf between an optimal performance against Stevenson and what we saw on Saturday. 

Stevenson has now won world titles at four weight classes and finally has a victory over a big name in the sport. And even with his decisive win, there is still room for him to grow. He had a few rounds on Saturday where he barely let his hands go, where it looked like he was coasting. He needs to remember that activity can be a big factor for certain judges. Also, he still looks uncomfortable fighting as a lead, and this will be a critical area for him to work on. Everyone can see that Shakur is a master counterpuncher, but does he fight at the same elite level when he's the one who's forced to be first?

*** 

It was tough for me to get a great read on Keyshawn Davis during his developmental fights. It wasn't just that he often fought in different styles, but sometimes he didn't look fluid or focused for portions of his fights. He'd try being a patient counterpuncher or then an upright boxer who led with his jab. There were fights where he took several rounds to engage and others where he went right after his opponents. He's had several trainer switches throughout his career and admitted to multiple out-of-the ring issues.  

With that said, he entered Saturday's fight against Jamaine Ortiz as still unbeaten. He had been a titleholder at lightweight but blew weight last year and lost his belt on the scales. Moving up to 140 on Saturday against a credible opponent, a fighter who had won several rounds against both Teofimo Lopez and Vasiliy Lomachenko, Davis had a great opportunity to compare himself to a pair of top fighters from this era.  

And with no reservations or caveats, Davis utterly dominated Ortiz. Davis fought with spite and was clearly ready to take offensive risks. He wasn't trying to be perfect and instead went after Ortiz with venom and relentlessness. He flashed hand speed, accuracy, power, punch variety – the works. 

Davis raises his hands after a knockdown
Photo courtesy of Cris Esqueda/Matchroom

Ortiz was so spooked by Davis' power that he barely committed to his punches all fight. He was throwing touch shots, keeping everything short, worried about Davis' fast, powerful and accurate counters. But Davis also wasn't sitting back; he was often fighting as the lead.  

By the end of the tenth round, Ortiz's left eye was a mess, and I was surprised that the New York commission, which has a reputation for being proactive in stopping fights, let the match continue. After dominating with head shots throughout the fight, Davis went to the body in the last two rounds. He unfurled devastating left hooks downstairs, leading to a knockdown in the 11th and another in the 12th. The fight was wisely called off at that point.  

I still have an unsettled feeling in terms of how I view Davis. He has been far more aggressive in his recent fights. And after showing decent but not exceptional power on his way up, he has now scored three knockouts in a row. Terence Crawford followed a similar trajectory, where over time he understood how to finish fighters better, even as he moved up in weight. (It should be noted that Crawford's longtime lead trainer, Brian McIntyre, was also Davis' recent trainer.) 

I believe that real punchers have a certain confidence. They know that if they fight to their capabilities, they will get the knockout. Some have the confidence from Day 1 while some develop it over time. Davis now fights as if he knows he can be devastating in the ring. And as he has learned more in the sport, that knowledge has helped him finish opponents, where in the past he had let wounded prey survive. He no longer needs to wait to counter. He can lead with combinations or single power shots. And he also understands that if one tool or approach isn't working, another one definitely could (which was also a Crawford hallmark).  

As beat up as Ortiz's face was after 10 rounds, he never went down. But Davis changed tracks. He wanted the stoppage and saw the body as the way to get there. That was an example of veteran savvy. Keyshawn made a destructive statement on Saturday.  

*** 

I didn't think that Bruce Carrington was having a great performance against Carlos Castro through eight rounds. Although he certainly had moments and rounds where he got the better of the action, and was probably winning the fight, I was concerned by his inability to pick up Castro's right hand from range. Castro landed that punch with an almost alarming frequency. In the fourth, Carrington stumbled back to the ropes after eating another right hand. And it should be noted that Castro wasn't a big puncher or particularly fast-handed.  

However, Carrington ended the fight in the ninth round with a highlight reel five-punch combination that started off with a counter. During the combination, he landed three devastating straight right hands and a pulverizing, short left hook. And that was it for Castro. 

Carrington celebrates his victory
Photo courtesy of Cris Esqueda/Matchroom

I recently interviewed trainer and former two-weight champ Buddy McGirt for a Ring Magazine article. One of McGirt's biggest criticisms of fighters today is that so few throw punches in combinations. So many fighters limit their output to one or two shots at a time.  

Well, McGirt must have loved what Carrington did in his finish on Saturday. Not only did he let five go, but he also landed with different punches, from different angles and with different velocities. And to McGirt's point, it was the type of finish rarely seen in boxing today. Furthermore, the whole sequence started with Carrington slipping a punch. There he showed a brilliant transition from defense to offense, another skill that often seems lost on many fighters today. It wasn't make him miss and make him pay. It was make him miss and go for the jugular! 

With the win, Carrington won his first world title, and he finds himself in a very interesting featherweight division, featuring a tall volume-puncher (Rafael Espinoza) a short volume-puncher (Nick Ball) and a medium-sized volume-puncher (Angelo Leo). All of them can be hittable, but they are high-energy fighters who bring pressure and a punch; they are serious opponents. Carrington may have more ring craft than the rest of the group and he's certainly more fluid than they are athletically. But his defense is still a concern.  

If Carrington can clean out this featherweight division, he will become an outright star and emerge as one of the top fighters in the sport. But all of these matchups could be tricky. Carrington may have the edge in all of these hypothetical fights, but he will need to raise his game to survive this minefield. All four champs are dynamic offensive forces but with defensive holes. It's unclear at this point who will emerge, but Carrington is right where he wants to be: in the thick of it, slugging it out!  

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. 

He's a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Panel, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com

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Catching My Eye: Navarrete, Adorno-Ortiz, Cash, Cruz, Martin

I'm trying out a new column idea. There are weeks in boxing such as this past one where there may not have been a huge fight to write about, but I found a number of things compelling in the ring. Basically, here's what caught my eye: 

Let's see how it goes. 

Everyone likes compact punches, tight punches, straight punches. The boxing truism that the punch that gets there first is most often the best one certainly applies far more often than not. However, every now and then a Mayorga, a Maidana or a Navarrete comes along to remind us that boxing rules of thumb are mutable and shouldn't be set in stone. In fact, these fighters have prospered because they have used their unorthodoxy, unpredictability and awkwardness to beat more traditionally "skilled" fighters. They don't have fast hands or textbook technique. And they laugh at what many would consider "no-no's" in the sport.

On Saturday, Emanuel Navarrete threw a lead left uppercut off the wrong foot, and across his body, as his opponent, Christopher Diaz, was moving away from him. Not only did the punch land, but it led to a hard knockdown. The skill, agility, athleticism and creativity needed to land that punch is incredible, but you won't often hear Navarrete and "skills" used in the same sentence.

Navarrete celebrating his win
Photo courtesy of Mikey Williams/Top Rank

Fighters such as Navarrete aren't often appreciated by boxing purists because they do so many things that are "wrong" in the ring. 99% of the top fighters in the sport wouldn't even dream of throwing that punch, because it leaves them opened to be countered, it has such a high degree of difficulty, and it could lead to being out of position during the next moment in the fight. I can envision many trainers in the gym disciplining their fighters for even attempting to throw something so reckless and unconventional. 

Navarrete throws a lot of his punches with a loop or a hitch. He can mix in jabs and straight rights to the head and body, but his left hook can be wide and he often will start his left uppercut from his shoestrings. In addition, his footwork is untraditional and he has his own unique rhythm in the ring. His opponents aren't sure where the punches will be coming from and from what angle they will land. It gives him a huge advantage against fighters with more traditional boxing backgrounds. They don't see fighters as unconventional as Navarrete in their boxing development and few sparring partners can replicate what he can do in the ring. 

He has now faced two fighters as a featherweight. He won a vacant title against Ruben Villa, a gifted mover with terrific feet, solid defense and a strong amateur background. On Saturday, he defeated Diaz, more of a traditional pocket fighter, and beat him at every range – in close, at middle distance and on the outside. I won't say that Villa and Diaz are elite fighters, but they are certainly capable practitioners at the world-level. 

It's going to take a special fighter to beat Navarrete. In the meantime, expect more thrilling displays of unconventional power punching. He's appointment television. 

*** 

It's unusual to see a pair of 14-0 prospects matched on an undercard with little on the line. There are a number of reasons why these fights don't often happen: promotional, managerial or the fighters themselves. Thus, Joseph Adorno and Jamaine Ortiz (and their respective teams) deserve credit for facing each other in an eight-rounder when they didn't need to. (There also was a similar fight of undefeated prospects last week that I'll touch on in a little bit. What a week!)

Adorno and Ortiz slugged their way to a draw in a fantastic bout where both lightweights flashed moments of sublime skill, but, as prospects, demonstrated areas where they need to make improvements. 

Adorno (right) throws a right hand
Photo courtesy of Mikey Williams/Top Rank

In the rounds where he wasn't knocked down, Ortiz, out of New England, impressed with high work rates, fluid combinations and relentlessness. He applied effective pressure most of the fight. But he was also dropped twice, in the second and the seventh, both from mistakes of over-aggressiveness and perhaps being too greedy in the ring. In the second round, he threw a ten-punch combination (yes, you read that correctly), but then was dropped by a cuffing left hook. There's a good reason why fighters don't explode with punch sequences which are that long. It leaves a lot of openings for the opponent. Adorno placed his shot perfectly and despite all the good work that Ortiz did in the round, he lost it 10-8. 

During the seventh round, Ortiz was chasing Adorno around the ring. In a moment where he thought that he had Adorno trapped along the ropes, Adorno picked him off with a hard left uppercut. The shot short-circuited Ortiz's senses and the next thing he knew he was trying to untangle his body from the second and third rope. Adorno was able to land the shot because Ortiz had lost his defensive shape when he went on attack. At the moment where Adorno threw the uppercut, Ortiz was perfectly square, leaving a huge target area for his opponent. 

It's clear that Adorno, the higher-profile fighter heading into the bout (although the underdog from the bookies), was outworked through large stretches of the match. And he's going to have to learn to deal with volume punchers in a better fashion. 

However, what ESPN's broadcasters missed during their shaming of his effort was that he had made a subtle adjustment. Whereas in the early rounds he tried to hold his ground and counter, by the end of the fight he was using his legs to pot-shot and pick off Ortiz from the outside. It worked in the seventh, although not in the eighth, but that adjustment was enough to salvage the draw on the cards. 

Adorno-Ortiz is a fight where literally, of course, no one lost, but figuratively that's the case as well. Both fighters displayed a high skill-level and got some good work done. This was an instance where both boxers took a risk and it paid off. They were in a real fight, a great one, and now it's time to get back to work. 

***

Felix Cash appeared on my radar last summer when he dismantled former world title challenger Jason Welborn. Now it's true that Welborn had been at his best at 154 lbs. and not at 160. And yes, he was close to the end of the line last year. But it was the manner in which Cash won that really caught my eye. Cash displayed a spiteful right hand, a solid defensive shape, excellent accuracy and a killer instinct. I was intrigued. 

On Saturday, Cash faced undefeated Denzel Bentley in a British and Commonwealth title fight. In the first round Cash was able to exploit Bentley's poor glove positioning and he connected with a menacing right hand. But it was the third round where Cash fully displayed his acumen and ferocity. He landed a sequence of five devastating right hands that led to Bentley slumping along the ropes, defenseless; referee Victor Loughlin rushed in to halt the fight (which was a perfect stoppage). 

Felix Cash (left) with the left uppercut
Photo courtesy of Queensberry Promotions

Cash had a solid amateur background and in this case his pedigree played a large role in the victory. He quickly noticed that Bentley's glove positioning would allow for openings. He carefully picked shots and when he connected he knew exactly what he needed to do for the finish. 

Trained by Tony Sims (one of England's best), Cash was surgical in his offensive performance. He didn't waste shots and he was clear-eyed when the fight turned. So often young fighters don't realize when they have their opponent hurt, and frequently when they do, they don't know how to finish. But Cash showed a veteran's poise and a young man's fearlessness as he went for the stoppage. It was a fantastic display. 

*

In the main even of Thursday's Ring City broadcast, Erika Cruz defeated longtime featherweight titlist Jelena Mrdjenovich. The fight was stopped in the seventh round due to cuts and went to the scorecards, where Cruz won by a shutout. 

I'm certainly not an expert on women's boxing, but I've followed it more closely over the last few years. So please take my following comments with a grain of salt. 

In my opinion there has been a turnover in women's boxing, with fighters such as Claressa Shields, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano emerging as among the very best. The difference with these particular women as I see it is that they can punch spitefully. They turn over their shots well. They have much better technique than many of their predecessors did. 

Erika Cruz didn't do anything special on Thursday. It was one right hook/straight left combo after another, and not much more. But both of those punches landed with thudding power and Mrdjenovich didn't have anything in her arsenal to discourage Cruz. 

In my opinion, many recent female boxing champs, the ones who seem to be losing in rapid fashion these days, got to the top of the sport on punch volume, agility and athleticism. Count me in the camp that is far more enthused to see this current crop of women, the ones who can really punch. In my opinion the performance level of women's boxing is rapidly improving as better opportunities have become available. I enjoy watching excellence and I think that women's boxing is displaying much more of it over the last few years. It's a trend that I hope continues to accelerate. 

*

Every now and then a fighter emerges from obscurity, almost fully formed, and I ask myself, where has this guy been hiding. I had such a moment on Tuesday as I watched Frank Martin destroy fellow unbeaten lightweight Jerry Perez in the seventh round.

Martin, 13-0, 10 KOs, a southpaw out of Indianapolis, is part of Derrick James' stable, which also includes Errol Spence and Jermell Charlo. Similar to those two champions, Martin throws menacing power shots. But what is different about Martin is that he can really move and has lightning-fast hand speed. 

When watching Martin on Tuesday I immediately thought of Gary Russell Jr. He moves so fluidly in and out of the pocket. He can evade shots laterally, he can duck under them, and he can counter at will. The ring is his friend and he uses it to dictate the terms of the action. 

His final combination was a beautiful display of technique and creativity. He threw a perfect double jab that forced Perez back and instead of following up with the straight left hand, he unfurled a dazzling rear left hook, a punch I don't believe he had thrown yet in the fight. Perez surely wasn't expecting it and had no defense for it. And to bring it back to the beginning of this column, sometimes, as Navarrete has shown, a looping punch can be devastating; the opponent doesn't see it coming. With that final rear hook, Martin had a highlight reel knockout. 

Martin is already 26, which isn't young for a prospect. Fortunately for him, he already looks close to the world level. Yes, perhaps he needs to learn to move a little less and to hold his position more, but he may emerge as a real threat to the best at 135. Frank Martin, we're so glad that you've arrived!  

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. He's a member of Ring Magazine's Ring Ratings Panel and a Board Member for the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. 

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.

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