Uncasville, CT– Brandun Lee won the IBO Inter-Continental super lightweight belt with his impressive third-round knockout of Samuel Teah of Philadelphia on Showtime’s SHOBox Next Generation card on Wednesday night.
“This was my biggest accomplishment yet. It was a step up in competition and even the betting odds were closer than usual,” said Lee after the fight. Teah (17-4-1, 7 KOs) was supposed to represent a step up for Lee, but the Californian made things look easy by throwing an array of punches at different levels. Teah did have a nice jab working for him, but it was not enough. The 21-year-old Lee found paydirt landing a wicked combination putting Teah on the canvas. Teah took an 8-count before arising to continue. Then Lee, sensing Teah was still hurt, really started to put some steam on his punches. Teah tried to grab hold of Lee on a few occasions and fight back. Until Lee delivered a highlight-worthy punch that may get consideration for knockout of the year. As Teah was landing a left hook, Lee (22-0, 20 KOs) countered and uncorked a vicious right hook, sending Teah out cold to the canvas. Referee Johnny Callas waved it off at 1:43 of the third round.
Lee said the knockout was one of the favorites of his young career. As for what is next, Lee expressed he wants a shot at getting the IBO world title. The title currently belongs to Argentina’s Jeremias Nicolas Ponce. As for whether nor not that happens next, Lee will leave that up to his manager, Cameron Dunkin.
In the co-main feature, there was a slight upset that took place. Jordan ‘Short Dog’ White knocked down Misael Lopez twice in the sixth round in route to a technical knockout in their super featherweight bout.
The Washington D.C. native, White (11-1, 9 KOs), was quicker and more aggressive. Lopez spent the first three rounds trying to time White with counter shots before finding some success in rounds four and five.
Round six saw White stagger and hurt Lopez with a short right uppercut. He allowed Lopez to linger for a moment before sizing him up and dropping him with an overhand right. The Denver native, Lopez (11-1, 5 KOs), got up, but he was still buzzing. White put the pressure on and landed three clubbing punches, dropping Lopez again. Lopez attempted to get up, but his legs were unsteady and referee, Arthur Mercante Jr. called a halt to the fight at the 2:40 mark of the sixth round. White said after the fight, “This was a big win, but honestly, it’s just the beginning.”
Opening the show, lightweight prospect Zack Padilla overcame a flash knockdown in the first round and scored a technical knockout over Philadelphia’s Thomas Velasquez. Both men entered the ring undefeated, but it was Velasquez who jumped out ahead early. Taking advantage of Padilla being off-balanced, Velasquez threw a right hand to the body and knocked Padilla down.
Velasquez (10-1-1, 6 KOs) continued to box well and had Padilla missing many of his punches. However, the New Jersey fighter settled down and closed the gap, and found his range in the fourth. In the fifth, Padilla caught an overzealous Velasquez with a right hook to the jaw that had his man hurt. Padilla continued the attack with a bevy of hooks and eventually floored Velasquez. He was able to get up, but his legs were unsteady. Padilla kept up the attack and had Velasquez falling as he tried to wrap up. After seeing Velasquez eat four more hooks, referee Danny Schiavone waved the fight off at the 1:56 mark of the fifth round.
Velasquez was ahead on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage. The 22-year-old Padilla’s record improves to 9-0 with 8 knockouts.
In another lightweight affair of two undefeated boxers, Philadelphian prospect Steven Ortiz defeated Jeremy Hill of New Orleans by unanimous decision. The eight-round fight was pretty much on even terms throughout, with neither man really exerting dominance. Ortiz was content fighting behind his jab as of his 364 punches thrown, 222 were jabs of which he landed 41 of. Hill was more prolific, throwing power punches. He landed 89 of 218. Both men landed a total of 98 punches each, with Ortiz throwing only twenty more punches than Hill (364 to344). The scores were 77-75, 79-73, 77-75.
The fight was Ortiz’s first since September of 2019 as opposed to Hill, who fought four times last year. “If I didn’t have the long layoff, I would have stopped him. Guaranteed”, Ortiz said post-fight. With the win, Ortiz goes to 12-0, with 3 knockouts, and Hill falls to 14-1, with 9 knockouts.
