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Brandun Lee Continues Impressive Knockout Streak With
Dominating Performance
Rising undefeated super lightweight prospect Brandun Lee
passed his latest test in dominating fashion in the highly
anticipated main event on ShoBox: The New Generation,
registering a devastating third-round knockout over Samuel
Teah Wednesday night from Mohegan Sun Arena and live on
SHOWTIME. Click here to watch Brandun Lee’s entry for
‘Knockout of the Year’ consideration.
The 21-year-old Lee (22-0, 20 KOs), a college junior from La
Quinta, Calif., knocked down the veteran Teah (17-4-1, 7
KOs) for the first time in his career with a powerful
combination, which was followed by a massive right hand that
knocked Philadelphia’s Teah out cold ending the fight at
1:43 of the third round.
Following the knockout blow, ShoBox play-by-play announcer
Barry Tompkins said, “That was a case of being over before
it was over.”
Fellow International Boxing Hall of Famer Steve Farhood
added, “This puts (Lee) at a different level now.”
Lee was fighting for the fourth time on ShoBox, and put an
exclamation point on an exciting night of fights. “Honestly,
I don’t think I learned a whole lot tonight,” said Lee, who
extended his knockout streak to 13 in a row. “I knew he
couldn’t outbox me. I knew he couldn’t outpunch me. I knew
the knockout was going to come and that one was definitely
one of my top one or two favorites so far in my career.”
Following the telecast, Farhood added: “I think it’s too
early to call him a contender, but there are so many
remarkable young fighters in boxing today around 135, 140
(pounds). He now becomes one to watch. Everything to this
point was nice, but this was really impressive and made him
a special prospect.”
Lee called the victory his biggest accomplishment yet. “It
was a step up in competition and even the betting odds were
way closer than usual,” Lee said. “Most of the time, I’m a
-5,000 favorite or something like that and this time it was
only -1,000. I was getting a lot of DM’s on Instagram and
Twitter of people telling me that Sam is going to be tough.
Sam is going to beat you. But hopefully, the doctors check
him out and everything is all good.”
In the prelude to the main event, super featherweight
prospect Jordan White (11-1, 9 KOs) scored an impressive
sixth-round technical knockout victory over previously
undefeated Misael Lopez (11-1, 5 KOs) in an all-action fight
scheduled for eight rounds.
A devastating overhand right hand by Maryland’s White
knocked down Colorado’s Lopez with 45 seconds remaining in
the sixth round. Lopez hit the floor again moments later
after a barrage of power punches that sent Lopez to the
canvas once again. The 24-year-old prospect rose to his feet
to beat the count before the fight was officially stopped at
2:40 of the sixth round.
“I would grade my performance as a B- or C+,” White said.
“This was a big win, but honestly, it’s just the beginning.
We’re going to come back better and stronger each time.”
At the time of the stoppage the 23-year-old White was ahead
48-47 on two scorecards while Lopez had a 48-47 nod on the
third scorecard. White outlanded Lopez 146-92 in total
punches and landed 47% of his power punches.
“In the first couple rounds, I hit him with a few good body
shots,” White said. “I knew I had him with my power. When I
hit him with the right uppercut that hurt him in the sixth,
I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to pace it out a little bit.
I’m not going to rush the knockout.’ And I was patient.
After the uppercut, I set up a couple hooks, an overhand,
and it was lights out.”
In a fight with several key momentum shifts, White had a
dominating third round, connecting on numerous effective
body blows that seemed to stagger Lopez.
Lopez was fighting for the first time in 17 months. It was
Lopez’s second ShoBox appearance as he scored an upset win
over James Wilkins in September of 2018.
In a battle of unbeaten lightweights, Philadelphia’s Steven
Ortiz (12-0, 3 KOs) outlasted a game Jeremy Hill (14-1, 9
KOs) in a unanimous eight-round decision victory. The judges
scores were 79-73 and 77-75 twice.
The 27-year-old Ortiz, who threw nearly 100 more jabs than
Hill in the bout, started quickly and then did enough down
the stretch to earn the victory over New Orleans’ Hill.
Despite earning a convincing win, Ortiz was not impressed
with his performance.
“Honestly, I’d give myself a D,” said Ortiz, a five-time
Pennsylvania Golden Gloves Champion. “Only because I feel
like I came out beautifully in the beginning and I stopped
being consistent with the jab and stopped doing the things
that were working. I hurt my right hand a little bit and he
hit me in the back with a kidney shot that slowed me down a
little bit, so I was upset at that. Besides that, we took on
a guy that was 14-0 with 9 knockouts after a year-and-a-half
layoff. Most guys would never do that.”
Both fighters landed precisely 98 punches during their
eight-round affair, but it was Hill who won the accuracy
battle on the night as he landed 28 percent (98-344). Ortiz
worked well behind his jab, landing 41 of 222 thrown while
Hill only connected on nine total.
“I definitely disagree with the scorecards, and if you look
at the punch stats they disagree too,” Hill said. “If not a
split-decision, it should have been a draw. I blame myself
for letting it be that close but all he did was hold and
complain. That should have went my way. I gave away the
first two rounds. I started pushing in the third round and
the fight was mine after that. I made him cower. I’m not
happy with my overall performance because I know what I can
do, but I wasn’t hurt. I wasn’t tired. I had him running and
backing up. I felt as though that should have gone my way.”
Ortiz was fighting for the first time in nearly 18 months.
“He was a good fighter,” Ortiz said. “He was disciplined. If
I didn’t have the long layoff, I would have stopped him.
Guaranteed. I hurt him plenty of times. If I was just a
little sharper and a little more consistent, I would have
gotten him out of there.”
In the opening bout of the telecast and a matchup of
unbeaten lightweight prospects, Victor Padilla (9-0, 8 KOs)
of New Jersey overcame a first-round knockdown to register a
fifth-round TKO win over former sparring partner Thomas
Velasquez (10-1-1, 6 KOs).
Following an onslaught of combinations by New Jersey’s
Padilla, referee Danny Schiavone called off the bout at 1:56
of the fifth round. The 22-year-old Puerto Rican native
Padilla had turned the fight around following a slow start
and dominated the fourth round. He staggered Philadelphia’s
Velasquez with multiple flush right hands prior to sending
him to the canvas with a left hook in the fifth frame,
marking the first knockdown suffered by the 25-year-old in
his young career.
“My timing was a little off,” said Padilla, who claimed he
slipped and was not hurt when he went down in the first
round. “I was trying to throw with a lot of power so that’s
why I was missing so much. He wasn’t catching me but he was
making me miss. By the start of the fourth round, I started
to relax and I realized that when I started putting pressure
on him he didn’t know what to do. I just needed to calm down
and let the knockout come naturally.
“Next fight, you’re going to see a better me. That’s the
plan. I’m growing. I’m just 22 years old. I’m growing in the
sport and I’m growing as a man. I’m a lot wiser now. I’m
happy for the opportunity and I thank SHOWTIME for the
chance to show my talents. It wasn’t exactly the way we
wanted, but we got the job done.”
Padilla landed 41 percent of his power punches (58 of 140)
compared to 34 percent for the southpaw Velasquez (51 of
151). Velasquez was ahead on all three scorecards (39-37,
38-37 x2) at the time of the stoppage.
“I can’t say if the stoppage was early or not right away,”
Velasquez said. “I have to go back to the video and watch
it. A fighter isn’t going to say that they should have
called it. I was executing the game plan pretty well up
until that point. It was just a real good punch that I
didn’t see.”
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