Undercard Report: Valdez-Stevenson
Mikey Williams / Top RankTop Rank prelims
By: LeoGreetings from Sin City! The prelim fights were pretty fun ~ thanks to Top Rank for having me out. Here’s the scouting report:
Antoine Cobb (1–0) Majority Draw Jaylan Phillips (1–2) (4 Rounds — Welterweight)
Cobb shows good fundamentals and counterpunching in round 1, tempered with some modest aggression. Phillips tried to work behind his jab, but got timed coming in most every time. Cobb’s mobility proved to be a difficult puzzle to solve for Phillips, who would either be swinging at air or getting tagged as he came in. Cobb landed a clean right down the pipe to finish round 2. In round 3 Phillips opened up aggressively and was having decent success going to the body, finding more success smothering Cobb and pushing the tempo. Coming out of the clinches, Phillips was cleaning up, giving him the third and making it two rounds to one heading into the 4th. Straight right down the pipe lands for Cobb, that deadly pathway for a righty vs lefty. Phillips kept up the pressure and was still finding success to the body, but Cobb figured out the strategy and was countering pretty cleanly. Phillips got scrappy in center-ring and was able to get around some counterpunches to land a few of his own, a big right in the final minute to give the biggest punch of the round. The last round was tricky, personally scoring 2:2 with the fight being a matter of halves. The scores came out 39–37, 38–38: Majority Draw brings the Cobb to 1–0–1 and Phillips 1–2–1.
Abdullah Mason (1–0) TKO1 Luciano Ramos (1–2) (4 Rounds — Lightweight)
Cagey start to the first round, Mason pushing the action more. Mason found success on the ropes, but Ramos made a point of smothering as much as he could. Overall, it doesn’t appear that Ramos came to fight throughout the first round. Mason had his guy hurt, putting Tony Weeks on alert. Mason tagged him plenty of times, backing Ramos into the ropes looking dazed, prompting the stoppage before the end of the round. A little bit of drama as Ramos tried to jump at Mason after the fight was called off at 2:32 in the first round. Weeks made the right call, sorry Team Ramos.
Troy Isley (4–0) TKO2 Anthony Hannah (3–2) (6 Rounds — Middleweight)
A bit of a tentative start in the opening minute, cagey and not too action-packed. As time went on, Isley had enough of the tension and started laying into Hannah. A good mix of shots up and down had Hannah on the backfoot the remainder of the round. The pressure seemed to be too much as Hannah was hesitant to engage and was side-stepping to get out of harm’s way with little success. Hannah survived the first round, but most certainly did not appear to have come to fight. The cagey defense kept Hannah from taking too much damage to start the second round as Isley picked the pressure right back up. KD for Isley with the follow-up assault putting the ref on alert. Another KD and Hannah’s corner had seen enough. “He’s trying to not die” — Bally on Hannah’s performance.
Andres Cortes (16–0) KO6 Alexis del Bosque (18–5–1) (8 Rounds — Junior Lightweight)
A good feeling out in the beginning of the round, both guys worked their jabs. Cortes landing an overhand shot early, but wasn’t able to put more together with it. Cortes lands a big shot to send Del Bosque into the ropes and he lunges on him to land a few more. Del Bosque clinches to get some space, but Cortes isn’t having it. Clear round for Cortes. Better start from Del Bosque, pressing the action and working behind his jab. Unfortunately, his riddle was solved rather quickly as Cortes started returning fire and actually landing clean shots. As the action moved into closer range in the middle of round two, Cortes worked the body for as long as Del Bosque was willing to try and exchange before moving back to mid and long range. Another round for Cortes in the books. Round three opened with Del Bosque working his jab again, but Cortes had the timing down and was parrying most of the incoming fire. Great exchange near the end of the round, Del Bosque landing some great shots upstairs after opening it up to the body; Cortes landing a fair few of his own and buzzing Del Bosque. More clean shots for Cortes over the top of Del Bosque’s guard gets the crowd humming with Cortes goofing a bit to finish it off. Good round for Del Bosque, but Cortes was clearly in control. Round 4 opened up mad decent, Del Bosque not discouraged by the damage he was taking. Cortes got a solid KD on a monster left downstairs. Great exchange along the ropes, but Del Bosque was clearly in deep waters that he wasn’t not ready for. Props to him for being willing to go out on his shield. The fight went into the next round with Cortes in clear control. A big KD sent Del Bosque to the deck, from which he would not recover. Definitely keep an eye on Cortes.
Raymond Muratalla (13–0) KO3 Jeremy Hill (16–2) (8 Rounds — Lightweight)
Very quick work for Muratalla. He opened up pushing the tempo from the onset. Muratalla starts with scoring that glove-touch KD and put Hill on the backfoot. Hill closed the round out okay, not letting all the punches from Muratalla go unanswered. Round 2 was generally uneventful through the first half, a few shots partially landing for both guys. Muratalla closes the round strong with a big right to shake Hill. Hill retreats along the ropes, but Muratalla keeps him in range and tees off to close Round 2. Muratalla kept Hill at the end of his jab and right hand, Hill not able to close the distance as he wanted. A big flurry towards the end of Round 3 put Hill on his back and Tony Weeks had seen enough.
Note: After review, the Round 1 KD was overturned.