NEW YORK CITY – From Newark Penn to New York Penn, Zaquin Moses put on a show Saturday night at The Theater at Madison Square Garden.
Moses, a 20-year-old junior lightweight prospect from “Brick City,” scored his third straight stoppage, battering Carl Rogers to a stoppage win on the Richardson Hitchins-George Kambosos Jnr undercard. Referee Eric Dali intervened at the 1 minute, 51 seconds mark of the fourth round, as Moses let loose with a relentless assault of southpaw power shots.
After taking a few moments in the first round to observe his unorthodox opponent, Moses, the younger cousin of WBC lightweight titleholder Shakur Stevenson, hurt the 34-year-old Rogers with a sweeping left hand to the body. Newark’s Moses stepped on the gas from that point, pushing back the less-coordinated fighter with his authoritative right jab.
Moses showed off his more polished arsenal as he nailed Rogers with catch-and-counter right hooks and left-hand bolos to the body. Moses repeatedly opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out at Rogers, a sign of how comfortable he was against his overmatched opponent, but a habit that could open him up to potential injuries against more competent foes.
Sensing his opponent was ready to go, Moses turned up the aggression in the fourth, dropping Rogers with a pair of right hooks. Rogers beat the count, but his unfocused eyes suggested that the room had not yet stopped spinning around him. Dali gave Rogers another few seconds to demonstrate whether he could defend himself adequately before stepping in to halt the bout.
Rogers, 34, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, dropped to 3-3 as a pro, losing his second straight fight by stoppage.
Five months after turning pro, Nishant Dev finally got his first real taste of professional boxing. The 2024 Olympian from India had a quality six-round outing against rugged Mexican Josue Silva, winning a unanimous decision.
Dev, 2-0 (1 KO), had to endure a determined early start from Silva, 3-3 (1 KO), before winning by scores of 60-54 on all three cards. Silva, who, at 32, is eight years Dev’s senior, landed two solid punches early against the southpaw Dev – an overhand right and a left hook to the body – before Dev’s skill took over down the stretch and he used angles to land his accurate – if not overwhelmingly powerful – left hands.
In the opening bout, British bantamweight prospect Adam Maca had a successful debut, stopping Rafael Castillo, 2-7 (1 KO), at 1 minute, 29 seconds of the second round.
A notable absence from the undercard was Pablo Valdez, a 42-year-old junior middleweight from New York City. Valdez, who was by far the biggest ticket seller on the undercard, had his fight fall out after his opponent, Cesar Diaz, withdrew on late notice because of a “medical issue.”
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn joined Valdez at ring center to explain what happened, while announcing that Valdez will instead fight on the July 19 Jesse Rodriguez-Phumelela Cafu undercard in Frisco, Texas, also on DAZN.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.