Hamzah Sheeraz moved as much as super-middleweight and stopped Edgar Berlanga, starring at a boxing occasion held on the Louis Armstrong stadium, the house of the US Open tennis event.
Sheeraz, making his US debut, halted Berlanga within the fifth spherical.
“Massive, massive performance from myself,” Sheeraz mentioned.
The Englishman confirmed he nonetheless has energy at 168lbs, dropping Berlanga twice within the fourth spherical after which pouncing shortly to begin the fifth earlier than referee David Fields ended the struggle.
Sheeraz was lucky to flee with a attract his final bout, a WBC middleweight title bout with Carlos Adames. However with this newest efficiency, the Briton has superior his case for a shot at undisputed super-middleweight world champion Canelo Alvarez.
Berlanga had gone the space with Canelo in his solely earlier loss.
Within the fourth spherical Sheeraz dropped Berlanga flat on his again. Berlanga raised his arms within the air, maybe making an attempt to point out he wasn’t damage, however Sheeraz knocked him down a second time within the nook earlier than the bell sounded to finish the spherical.
But it surely did not take lengthy as soon as the fifth began, as a three-punch mixture knocked Berlanga off stability and one in all his gloves touched the canvas as Fields waved it off.
“Today there was nothing stopping me,” Sheeraz mentioned.
Shakur Stevenson remained undefeated and defended his WBC light-weight title with a dominant show, beating William Zepeda by unanimous choice.
Stevenson received 119-109 on one card and 118-110 on the opposite two. Zepeda landed a left hand shortly after the opening bell that drew a smile from the champion, and he was in a position to get inside a lot of occasions to unload a collection of photographs at Stevenson. However he was typically powerless to cease the speedy flurries coming again at him.
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Highlights of the WBC light-weight world title struggle between Shakur Stevenson and Josh Padley from February
Stevenson appeared glad to commerce blows and more often than not got here out forward when he did.
“At the end of the day, I told you all, whatever it takes to get the job done,” Stevenson mentioned. “I got dog in me. I’m not a puppy, I’m not a poodle, I’m a tough guy, so I got dog in me.”
Zepeda did entice Stevenson in a nook to attain with some photographs within the third spherical, bringing his Mexican followers out of their seats, however typically Stevenson’s head motion allowed him to dodge potential hassle. By the center of the struggle, Stevenson was firing off two, three, generally 4 unreturned photographs
There was a title change when Subriel Matias edged Alberto Puello by majority choice to take the WBC’s super-lightweight belt.
Earlier than that, Cuban David Morrell bought up from a fifth-round knockdown to rally late and edge Imam Khataev by break up choice in a light-heavyweight bout.
