39-year old Henry Cejudo added “victorious professional boxer” to his illustrious sports resume as he made his professional debut against previously undefeated actor/boxer Javon “Wanna” Walton at the James Knight Convention Center in Miami, Florida tonight. Walton was stepping in for Nurideen “Deen The Great” Shabazz who pulled out two weeks ago.
Already a gold medal winner in free style wrestling at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (at the time, the youngest American gold medalist in that sport at 21 years of age) and a two weight UFC champion, Cejudo decided to step into the squared circle to test himself as a legit boxer. 20-year old, Season 1 Euphoria star, Javon Walton came into this match at 3-0-1, 1 KO, 19 years younger, and at least three inches taller than Cejudo. Walton was a southpaw to boot.
The lefty/righty stances became an issue from the get-go as several clashes of heads occurred. Fortunately, there were no cuts. Walton appeared to take the first round as Cejudo couldn’t figure out how to time, or get inside the southpaw jab. From round two on, Cejudo countered beautifully, getting under the jab and throwing Walton’s timing off. Walton became hesitant and less active.
While Cejudo did land some stinging counters, neither man was ever seriously hurt or close to going down. At the end of the scheduled four rounder, the judges saw it: 39-37 for Walton and 39-37 twice for Cejudo, who wins his pro debut at 39. Walton drops to 3-1-1, 1 KO. Cejudo said he wouldn’t mind running it back, but also called out original opponent Shabazz, who wasn’t in attendance. For his part, Walton was gracious and honest: “If the scores were that close, I didn’t do enough to win.”
Cejudo – Walton was the main event of the MisFits Boxing card in Miami tonight.
