Abduallah Mason. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc)
by Miguel Maravilla | Cleveland, Ohio’s lightweight prospect Abdullah Mason stopped Desmond Lyons in six. Displaying hand speed and flash in the opening round, Mason (8-0, 7 KOs) got off to a good start snapping the jab and following up with the straight left backing Lyons. Working patiently and countering in round two, Mason connected with a solid left uppercut as he stopped Lyons from pressing and getting inside. Mason continued to outwork Lyons (8-3, 2 KOs) as he began to go downstairs to the body and in the fifth Mason cornered Lyons. Referee Robert Hoyle had seen enough after Mason had outworked Lyons and connected with a series of punches stopping the fight at 32 seconds of the sixth and final round.
Las Vegas’s junior featherweight prospect Floyd “Cashflow” Diaz won a unanimous decision over Luis Saavedra of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Off to a fast start, Diaz (9-0, 3 KOs) and Saavedra mixed it up in the opening round. Saavedra stalked and pressed in round two as Diaz fought off his back foot countering. Working on the inside in the third, Saavedra (9-9, 3 KOs) took it to Diaz stalking staying on top of Floyd. Continuing to go at Diaz in the fourth, Saavedra was not making it easy for Floyd by cutting the ring and swinging wildly.
In the fifth, a nasty cut began to develop on Saavedra’s right eye but he continued to go forward as Diaz continued to box away. The cut appeared to be sustained in round six as Saavedra kept coming, forcing Diaz to keep his distance and box. Displaying his relentless in the seventh round, the cut and bleeding was not stopping Saavedra from coming forward as he kept Diaz boxing and fighting at distance. The eighth and final round saw Diaz work off the jab but the stalking and wild swinging Saavedra kept coming and staying on top of Floyd to the final bell. Despite being bloodied Saavedra finished strong.
The judges scored the bout 80-72, 80-72, and 79-73 all three in favor of Diaz.
Lightweight Emiliano Fernando Vargas (5-0, 4 KOs), the son of former world champion Fernando “El Feroz” Vargas, scored a second-round knockout over Rafael Jasso (3-1, 1 KO). A hard crunching left hook to the body
by Vargas did it as Jasso was down, referee reached a ten count at 1:41.
In the opening bout of the Top Rank promotion at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, middleweight Amari Jones (9-0, 8 KOs) Oakland scored a sixth round stoppage over Chino Hill (8-3-1, 6 KO’s) of Davenport, Iowa. Jones took it to Hill from the opening bell and in round two, the Oakland native began to unload . In the third, Jones kept working backing Hill and beating him to the punch. It was all Jones throughout the fight, in the sixth and final round referee Mike Ortega had seen enough as he stepped in to stop the fight at 1:16 of the sixth.
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