Shabaz Masoud produced the best win of his career as he stopped Jack Bateson in the twelfth round of a British super-bantamweight final eliminator that was also for Bateson’s WBA intercontinental belt in Sheffield on the Edwards-Alvarado undercard.
Bateson, who came in unbeaten in 17 fights, was the bookies’ favorite but Masoud was too slick for him as he thoroughly outboxed Bateson, before turning on the power and stopping him in the last.
In the first two rounds it was shaping up to be a tight fight, but Masoud took a grip of proceedings in the third round and never let it slip.
Masoud was marvelous, whether working behind the jab or walking Bateson into a vicious left hook, which he did numerous times.
Try as he might, Bateson struggled to land on Masoud and whether he switched orthodox or southpaw, Masoud seemed to find him equally well.
Masoud was able to box at his own pace and, by the middle rounds, he was landing body shots that seemed to be softening Bateson up.
There were moments of hope for Bateson in the ninth, but Masoud turned it on again in the tenth as Bateson just looked too easy to hit.
Bateson went for it in the last round, but walked into a left uppercut that dropped him. Soon after he was down again, although it was ruled a slip, and as Masoud opened up, Bateson could not defend himself and referee Howard Foster eventually stepped in as Bateson slid to the floor under a heavy barrage with exactly a minute of the fight remaining.
Marcel Braithwaite earned a split decision over Thomas Essomba in their British super-flyweight final eliminator, although Braithwaite will not get an automatic title shot after missing weight.
It was a bitty fight that never really caught fire, but Braithwaite was the busier and built up a lead, meaning Essomba had to chase it in the later stages.
The pace of the fight was not helped by a lengthy time-out in the ninth round due to trouble among fans in the arena.
Phil Edwards had Essomba the winner by 116-113, but Howard Foster and Steve Gray went for Braithwaite by 117-111 and 116-114 respectively.
Middleweight Olympic gold medal-winner Hebert Conceicao moved to 3-0 with a six-round decision over Gideon Onyenani. There were some moments of real class from the Brazilian, but Onyenani boxed well and kept him honest.
Howard Foster scored it 60-54.
Unbeaten super-welterweight Ishmael Davis gave a power-packed performance as he stopped Dustin Ammann of Germany in the fifth of an eight-rounder.
Davis softened up Ammann from opening bell with hooks. Amman gave it a go and threw plenty himself, but Davis shrugged it off and landed better punches. By the end of the fourth round, Ammann was rocking and cut, but he was sent out for the fifth round. He was rocked by a left and the a right before the corner threw in the towel at 1:05.
The six-round lightweight fight between Levi Kinsiona and Romanian Alin Florin turned into a mini classic, with Florin earning a 77-76 decision over the Sheffield boxer from referee Howard Foster.
It was reward for a positive approach by Florin, who took the fight to Kinsiona throughout and probably had the better moments in a very close fight.
In the opening fight, super-middleweight Nicolie Campbell moved to 10-1 with a routine six-round points decision over Frane Radnic of Croatia. Campbell, a 31-year-old southpaw, has struggled with inactivity. This was only his third fight since July 2019.
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.
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