Madison Square Garden, New York City - Katie Taylor continually beat Eva Wahlstrom to the punch. By the time their 10-round lightweight title fight was over, Taylor had won every round on each of the three judges’ scorecards. (photos by Ed Mulholland).
Bernard Bruni, Larry Hazzard Jr. and Dave Sutherland all scored the fight 100-90 for the 2012 Olympic gold medalist.
Taylor’s impressive victory over the previously unbeaten Wahlstrom enabled Ireland’s Taylor (12-0, 5 KOs) to retain her IBF and WBA 135-pound titles. The 32-year-old Taylor made her fifth defense of the WBA championship and the third defense of her IBF belt.
Sadam Ali made a successful, if not overly impressive, return to the welterweight division Saturday night.
The former WBO junior middleweight champion out-pointed Mauricio Herrera in a mostly uneventful, 10-round, 147-pound encounter. Ali (27-2, 14 KOs) fought off his back foot for much of their bout and landed right hands with enough frequency to easily win a unanimous decision.
Tevin Farmer’s fight wasn’t nearly as easy as his first title defense.
Eight weeks after tearing through James Tennyson, Farmer fought toe-to-toe with Francisco Fonseca throughout their 12-round bout. Neither fighter appeared to hurt his opponent, but Farmer was the busier, more accurate puncher and won a unanimous decision.
Judges Julie Lederman, Waleska Roldan and Don Trella preferred Farmer’s craftiness and scored their fight exactly the same for the skillful southpaw, 117-111. Lederman, Roldan and Trella each scored nine of the 12 rounds for Farmer.
