NEWARK, N.J. — Before Shakur Stevenson lit up the hometown crowd at Prudential Center, a number of other boxers warmed up the crowd on the Top Rank promoted event.
The card opened up with Ali Feliz, the unbeaten heavyweight prospect from Danbury, Conn. Feliz (3-0, 2 KOs) went the distance for the first time as a pro, shutting out Robinson Perez (2-1) of Southbridge, Mass. across the board, winning by unanimous scores of 40-36.
Feliz, 20, Feliz used his jab and combinations to keep the larger man at bay, and then body shots sapped his gas tank even further. Feliz appeared to hurt Perez with a left hook in the third but appeared content to score and win the rounds.
Feliz, a decorated amateur, had won the U.S. Olympic qualifiers at super heavyweight, but with Joshua Edwards already having qualified for the country at that weight, Feliz opted instead to represent the Dominican Republic at the world Olympic qualifiers in Italy, losing a split decision to Martin McDonagh of Ireland.
Kelvin Davis, the older brother of 2020 U.S. Olympian Keyshawn Davis, kept his unbeaten record intact, turning back the strong challenge of Kevin Johnson to win an eight-round majority decision in their junior welterweight bout. Davis (13-0, 7 KOs) of Norfolk, Va. survived a determined late round rally from Johnson (12-4, 8 KOs) of Detroit, Mich. to get the victory by scores of 78-74 on two cards, while the third had it even at 76-76.
Davis, 27, controlled the early rounds with his range and southpaw jab, landing cleanly with the left uppercut whenever Johnson (12-4, 8 KOs) became too aggressive. Johnson, who had beaten five previously unbeaten opponents, began landing with his right hand on Davis, though he was unable to hurt Davis.
The win was the third out of Davis’ last four fights to go the eight round distance.
Closing the non-televised portion of the card, Eridson Garcia (19-1, 12 KOs) scored a unanimous decisioon over William Foster III (17-2, 11 KOs) in a ten round battle of once beaten junior lightweights. The scores were 99-91 on one card and 98-92 on the other two, all for Garcia, 30, a southpaw from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic who now resides in Houston, Tex. Garcia, a southpaw, used his boxing skills to score and counter against Foster, also 30, who has now lost two out of three dating back to his majority decision loss to Henry Lebron last November.
Garcia has now won two straight since his lone defeat, a first round knockout against Jordan White last August.
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