Undefeated welterweight Tahmir Smalls (12-0, 8 KOs) kept his perfect professional record intact with a hard-fought eight round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Seantorious Martin (10-1, 6 KOs) on Friday night at the Red Owl Boxing Arena in Houston, Texas.
The 25-year-old Smalls, who held a significant three-inch reach advantage over Martin, worked well behind his jab early and often at the urging of his trainer and father Lawrence Smalls. The strategy paid off as the three judges’ scorecards saw Smalls winning the fight 77-75, 77-75 and 78-74.
“My corner told me to keep popping my jab and to keep my hands up,” Smalls noted. “Martin caught me with a right hand or two but that was due to me dropping my left hand. I was picking it up at the end of the fight. I will go back to the gym and work on it.”
Smalls proved to be the quicker, more explosive fighter, but Martin was able to land powerful power punches at times throughout the fight. This was the first time either fighter had gone eight rounds or faced an undefeated fighter in their young professional careers.
“This was my first eight-round fight,” said Smalls. “It was exactly what I expected. But there were a couple of things that I could tighten up on. He was a good opponent and he brought more than I thought but at the end of the day, I handled it the way I was supposed to.”
While turning in dominant rounds throughout the middle of the fight, Smalls gave up ground to the 28-year-old Martin who won the final two rounds on all three judges’ scorecards. Despite the strong close to the fight, the slow start was too much to overcome for the Georgia native.
In the lead up to the fight, Smalls told two-time welterweight world champion and Red Owl Boxing’s expert analyst Shawn Porter that fellow Philadelphia fighter Jaron “Boots” Ennis was a valuable resource throughout camp. Smalls noted that Boots told him, “keep your composure and don’t get too excited,”
Following a long layoff, Smalls followed the welterweight world champion’s advice and is looking forward to remaining active following his exciting performance with the Red Owl Boxing brand and live on DAZN around the world.
In the co-main event of the evening, the conclusion of the Shadow FightGoods 140-Pound Tournament took center stage when the scheduled eight-round fight ended with a controversial sixth-round stoppage from referee James Green. The Newburgh, New York-native Elijah Williams (10-1, 4 KOs) earned his 10th career victory via technical knockout over Dion Jones (7-1, 6 KOs), who lost the first professional fight of his career.
In the opening round, Williams was staying true to his moniker as “The Bully” as he chased and peppered Jones. The 26-year-old Jones responded with a beautiful check left hook that sent Williams to the canvas. Jones, who is trained by Jeff Mayweather, was told to remain patient and that advice played out over back-and-forth middle rounds.
“I did what I had to do, he is a good fighter,” said Williams. “I got a little careless at times, especially early in the fight.”
At the time of the stoppage, the fight was even on two scorecards and Jones led on the third. Williams believes that he would have knocked him out cleanly should the fight have continued.
“It’s up to the referee how the fight goes,” continued the 21-year-old Williams. “I was going for the kill so all he did was stop it a little early.”
In the six-round super featherweight fight between Joshafat Ortiz (13-1, 6 KOs) and Travis Crawford (7-3, 2 KOs), Ortiz won a unanimous decision victory with scores of 58-55, 58-55 and 57-56. Despite a strong showing, Ortiz was knocked down in the first round which he thought was the incorrect call.
“You have instant replay, you saw what happened,” said the 29-year-old Ortiz. “He stepped on my foot but not taking anything away from him.”
The fight had several back-and-forth moments but Ortiz controlled the pace. When asked if the Texas crowd at Red Owl Boxing Arena gave him pause against Corpus Christi’s Crawford, Ortiz was adamant that it was never a concern.
“No credit away from my opponent but everytime I come into this ring, I bet on myself and I knew what I could do tonight,” said Ortiz.
The hard-hitting, knockout artist Dash Simmons (5-0, 5 KOs) remained true to his reputation with a fourth-round TKO victory over Nosa Divine Nehikhare (5-2) in a 185-pound fight. Nehikhare became the first fighter to take Dash Simmons out of the first round. With just seconds left in the third frame, Nehikhare was dropped but recovered in time to continue. It was in the fourth round that the veteran took a knee after a barrage of punches from the 27-year-old rising star.
“I just had to calm down,” said Simmons. “I competed at a high level in the amateurs and now I am getting back to that in the pros. My coaches told me to keep working my jab because this was the first time I faced a southpaw in the pros. Shout out to Red Owl for this opportunity.”
Steve Cunningham, Jr. (3-0, 2 KOs) notched the first decision victory of his young career while handing Rudy Reveles (1-1, 1 KO) his first loss in a four-round fight at 157 lbs. The 21-year-old had a difficult fight in which one ringside judge scored a draw (38-38) but was overruled by identical scores from the other two judges (39-37).
“I was definitely looking for the knockout but you can’t expect it all the time,” said Cunningham, Jr. “I had a really rough training camp but it’s different in the ring. I just have to get in the ring a little bit more and get the ring rust off – and I will be better.
“Ever since I was in diapers, I was around high-level boxing,” continued Cunningham, Jr., the son of former two-time cruiserweight world champion Steve Cunningham. “It’s in my blood. It’s nothing you can train for. I feel great and I want to get right back in there. I want to show the world who I am.”
The broadcast opened up with a six-round shutout victory by Gustavo Rivera Rio (11-1, 7 KOs) who earned three 60-54 scorecards against the battle-tested Joseph Cruz (9-11, 5 KOs). Rio, 22, turned pro in 2023 and scored seven knockout victories in his first year and was hoping to score his first knockout of 2024,
“I faced another tough Mexican just like me, I knew he wasn’t going to fall down so I had to put on my boxing skills tonight,” said Rio, who is trained by the renowned Ronnie Shields. “I was landing my left hook so I was told to repeat it and that’s what I did.”
