By Cliff Rold

In a minor upset, an alumnus of the first season of the reality TV product “The Contender” may well have become one.  Over twelve hard rounds of Super Middleweight action, 33-year old Jesse Brinkley (35-5, 22 KO) of Las Vegas, Nevada, scored knockdowns in the sixth and final rounds to win a dominant decision over 24-year old Curtis Stevens (21-3, 15 KO) of Brownsville, New York at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada on Friday night.

Brinkley came into the bout a half pound below the division limit at 167 ½, Stevens weighing in at 165.

Brinkley initiated the action, working his jab while the faster Steven looked for the hole for his left hook.  He found it twice in the first minute, unbalancing Brinkley but not really hurting him.  It would be among the few highlights for Stevens.  As the second round began, Brinkley’s right eye was already swelling underneath but he stood his ground and started to chip away with jabs and rights by round’s end.

Stevens struck with the first big shot in the third, a long right hand, but he continued to struggle to get inside as Brinkley deftly defended his right side and used the jab to keep himself at a safe distance.  As the final minute of the round kicked off, Brinkley brought a roar from the crowd, flurrying to a Steven whose back was to the ropes.  Few of the blows landed but his confidence was growing.

A wild exchange broke out in the first minute of the fourth and it was Brinkley carrying the action.  By the midway point of the round, Brinkley had connected with two long right hands but Steven kept pressing.  Both men landed big hooks in close and Stevens motored in with a booming left to the body.  Brinkley closed with a pair of jabs while Stevens missed wildly with a left hook.

Neither man landed much in the opening moments of the fifth but that didn’t last long.  Brinkley found a right hand, Stevens a left, and Steven found the shot again to the ribs when briefly trapped on the ropes.  A Brinkley right to the body at the halfway point helped to push Steven to the ropes where the New Yorker landed a lacing counter right to the head.  A right to the body was finished with a left to the head by Brinkley back at mid-ring and in the final ten seconds both men fired hooks to the head and body and just kept going after the bell.  As the exchange continued, Brinkley trainer Peter Manfredo Sr. rushed into the ring and pushed Stevens away from his fighter to end the overtime action.

Pawing at first with his jab to open the fifth, Stevens exploded with a two-punch combination and Brinkley answered with two of his own.  A left hook landed at the minute mark for Stevens but Brinkley showed no ill effect.  A minute later, there was plenty of ill effect being felt by Stevens.  A Brinkley right buckled the knees of Stevens who stumbled back and pulled his hands up in defense.  Another right crashed through anyways as Steven sunk into the ropes, a stinging jab following to bust through his guard.  Another right and Stevens was waving Brinkley forward, obliged with a left to the stomach and another right upstairs.  Another right near the ropes kept the hurt coming and Stevens wobbled from one side of the ring to the other.  It would be his last trip across the ring before a trip to the floor, a final Brinkley right causing a delayed reaction kneel to the canvas.   

Referee Vic Drakulich hustled Brinkley into the neutral corner and Stevens waited for the mandatory eight count to come his direction.  Wearing a mask of discouragement, Stevens breathed deep and looked to his corner for instruction, assurance, nodding at their advice. He rose promptly at eight and immediately heard the saving grace of the bell to end the sixth round.

Stevens still looked unsteady as he came out for the seventh but Brinkley never landed the right hand again right away and Stevens’s legs began to settle.  Brinkley looked to unsettle them as the rights began raining in the final minute, opening created by Stevens after he was emboldened by his own landing left hook.  Stevens was never in the sort of trouble he’d been in the sixth and in round eight Stevens was showing snap with a right hand near the ropes.  Brinkley bounced right back with his own right hand, stopping any momentum building.  Brinkley stayed a step ahead but Stevens was still firing as the bell sounded.

Manfredo having been removed from the corner earlier in the fight, he continued to shout encouragement from ringside as Brinkley crashed a pair of rights into the head of Stevens in the first half of the ninth.  Stevens took both and took no backwards step, recognizing his logical position on the scorecards and swinging for extra bases.

Brinkley kept Stevens inside the fences, contained, through rounds ten and eleven.  Stevens would get close but wasn’t finding the bomb he needed while Brinkley never failed to find some measuring rights when he needed them.

Coming out with a swelling over his left eye, and under his right, to being the twelfth round, Stevens continued to press.  It played right into Brinkley’s hands.  The Nevadan countered with a right in the final minute, hurting Stevens badly and Drakulich stepped in to rule a technical knockdown had occurred.  Stevens would not quit, taking the mandatory eight and throwing huge hooks with his back to the ropes and Brinkley stepped in looking for the knockout.  The right hand which had been the story of the fight rocked Stevens one last time but he would not fall and the bout went to the judges.

Brinkley was awarded an earned unanimous decision at scores of 117-109, 118-108, and 119-107.  Brinkley wins his ninth straight, doing nothing to harm his number seven rating in the IBF and perhaps moving forward in the WBO ratings at Super Middleweight.  Brinkley entered the night rated 15th by that organization, Stevens tenth.

In an often dull televised opener, 20-year old Welterweight Raymond Serrano (12-0, 6 KO), 146 ½, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, scored a lopsided decision over 33-year old Ronnie Warrior (13-3-1, 4 KO), 147, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  It was Warrior’s first fight since 2007 and he managed only one winning round on any of three unanimous 79-73 scores over eight.  The referee was Russell Mora.  

The card was televised on U.S. basic cable outlet ESPN2 as part of its Friday Night Fights series, promoted by Star Boxing.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com