ARLINGTON, Texas — Mario Barrios’ resilience served him well Friday night.
The WBC welterweight champion calmly got back into his fight against Abel Ramos after Ramos dropped him during the sixth round. The San Antonio native eventually cleared his head, regained control of the action at times, fought through some swelling on his face and escaped with his belt after the thoroughly competitive, entertaining 12-round, 147-pound championship clash was declared a split draw on the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul undercard at AT&T Stadium.
Judge Mike Ross scored Barrios a 116-110 winner, but judge Javier Alvarez credited Ramos with a 114-112 win. Judge Douglas Robinson scored their back-and-forth fight a draw, 113-113.
Barrios (29-2-1, 18 KOs) retained his WBC welterweight title in his first defense since he was elevated from interim champion. He was listed by BetMGM sportsbook as an 8-1 favorite to beat Ramos (28-6-3, 22 KOs), the eighth-ranked challenger for his title.
Barrios looked sharp early in the bout when his overhand right knocked Ramos off balance just before the halfway point of the second round. Another punishing right by Barrios knocked Ramos flat on his back with 16 seconds to go in the second round.
Ramos reached his feet quickly and the bell sounded to end the second round several seconds later.
After suffering that knockdown, Ramos seemed cautious until he opened up on Barrios during the middle minute of the sixth round. Barrios was winning comfortably until that sixth round, but Ramos closed the gap by blasting Barrios with a right hand that knocked Barrios to the canvas.
A stunned Barrios beat referee Hector Afu’s count comfortably. Ramos landed several more hard punches toward the end of the sixth round, though, including a right that snapped Barrios’ head back a few seconds before it ended.
Three rounds after Ramos dropped him, Barrios went on the offensive again during the ninth round and regained some control of their fight. Ramos built momentum by winning the sixth, seventh and eighth rounds.
Barrios rallied in the championship rounds to prevent Ramos from taking his title. They went toe-to-toe to excite the crowd during the final minute of the 12th round.
Barrios won against Argentina’s Fabian Maidana by the same score, 116-111, on all three cards in his previous match May 4 in Las Vegas. Barrios still wasn’t the least bit pleased with his performance because he allowed Maidana to cause so much swelling around his right eye that he couldn’t see out of it by the end of their 12-rounder on the Canelo Alvarez vs. Jaime Munguia undercard at T-Mobile Arena.
Before Barrios beat Ramos, veteran Indian boxer Nareej Goyat unanimously beat Brazilian comedian Whindersson Nunes on points in their six-round super middleweight match.
Nunes, who made his pro debut, tried his best to make their fight competitive. Goyat’s experience enabled him to take control, though, and Nunes wasn’t able to fend off his bigger, more aggressive opponent, who mostly picked him apart.
Judges Lisa Giampa (60-54) and David Iacobucci (60-54) both scored their fight a shutout for Goyat (20-4-2, 8 KOs). Judge Javier Alvarez gave one round to Nunes, who lost 59-55 on his card.
Shadasia Green def. Melinda Watpool
Shadasia Green made the most of her second shot at a women’s super middleweight title Friday night.
Green outpointed previously undefeated Melinda Watpool on two scorecards and won their 10-round, 168-pound championship match by split decision on the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul undercard at AT&T Stadium. Green (15-1, 11 KOs), of Paterson, New Jersey, won the vacant WBO super middleweight title by beating Toronto’s Watpool (7-1, 2 KOs) in the last of three bouts streamed on Netflix Sports’ YouTube channel.
Judges Lisa Giampa (97-93) and Justin Reyes (96-94) scored seven and six rounds, respectively, for Green. Judge Jeremy Hayes scored Watpool a 96-94 winner.
The stronger Green mostly remained in control and seemingly piled up points in her largely uneventful encounter with Watpool. She knocked Watpool off balance by landing her right hand about 35 seconds into the sixth round.
Watpool survived some trouble later in the sixth round as well. She didn’t consistently connect with flush punches on Green, however, and other than during the ninth round had little success offensively against a more aggressive Green.
Two fights before the crowning achievement of Green’s career, she dropped a 10-round unanimous decision to former undisputed super middleweight champ Franchon Crews-Dezurn (9-2, 2 KOs). Green and Baltimore’s Crews-Dezurn fought for the then-unclaimed WBC super middleweight crown this past December 15 at Caribe Royale Orlando in Orlando, Florida.
The 35-year-old Green, a former point guard for Old Dominion University, is represented by Paul’s MVP Promotions.
Lucas Bahdi def. Armando Casamonica
Lucas Bahdi didn’t punish Armando Casamonica in the manner he promised Friday after Casamonica came in 3.5 pounds overweight Thursday.
Bahdi actually appeared lucky to have escaped with a 10-round, majority decision victory over the previously unbeaten Italian on the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul undercard at AT&T Stadium. Judge Mike Ross scored their fight a draw, 95-95, but judges David Iacobucci (96-93) and Nate Palmer (98-92) scored Bahdi the winner of a fight that lacked action.
Casamonica (14-1, 3 KOs) has a much lower knockout ratio than Bahdi (18-0, 15 KOs), but the shiftier fighter consistently controlled the pace, pressed the action at times, and never appeared affected by his supposedly dangerous opponent’s punches. Bahdi, who was widely listed as at least an 8-1 favorite, had difficulty tracking down his slippery opponent and couldn’t connect with the type of devastating shot that changed his career almost four months earlier.
In July, a then-unknown Bahdi burst upon the U.S. boxing scene when he knocked out lightweight prospect Ashton Sylve in the sixth round on the Jake Paul vs. Mike Perry undercard at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Sylve (11-1, 9 KOs), of Long Beach, California, was a highly touted 135-pound prospect that Paul’s company, MVP Promotions, represents. The 20-year-old Sylve was initially scheduled to face another young, highly regarded American lightweight, Floyd Schofield, on the Paul-Tyson undercard.
Once Bahdi beat him, MVP Promotions added Bahdi to its roster.
Bruce Carrington Jr. def. Dana Coolwell
Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington didn’t deliver the knockout he hoped he’d produce on Mike Tyson’s undercard Friday afternoon. But the unbeaten, Brooklyn-bred featherweight contender did atone for his subpar performance seven weeks earlier.
Carrington, 27, dropped Australia’s Dana Coolwell twice, completely controlled the action and convincingly won an eight-round unanimous decision at AT&T Stadium.
All three judges scored it a shutout for Carrington, 80-70 apiece, on their cards in the first fight on the Tyson-Jake Paul undercard.
Carrington (14-0, 8 KOs), who grew up in the same Brownsville neighborhood as Tyson, caught Tyson’s attention by imitating his infamous post-fight speech following his 38-second demolition of Lou Savarese 24 years ago. Tyson pushed Paul to make sure Carrington was provided a spot on this high-profile undercard.
The supremely confident Carrington and his handlers, including promoter Bob Arum, weren’t especially happy with his prior performance, a 10-round majority decision defeat of southpaw Sulaiman Segawa on Sept. 27 at Madison Square Garden’s Theater in New York. He defeated Segawa by the same score, 97-93, on two scorecards, but one judge scored that bout a draw, 95-95.
Carrington got right back into camp for his fight with Coolwell (13-3, 8 KOs).
He felt out Coolwell during the first two rounds, but began to take control in the third round. A right hand by Carrington sent Coolwell to the seat of his trunks a few seconds before the midway mark of the fourth round, but Coolwell was able to recover and made it to the fifth round.
An accumulation of Carrington’s punches also caused Coolwell to take a knee with 1:02 remaining in the eighth round. Coolwell collected himself, got up and made it to the final bell.
Coolwell has not been knocked out in 16 professional fights. Before Carrington shut him out, he had lost only a pair of split decisions to unbeaten opponents — Jake Wyllie (then 4-0) and Ender Luces (then 16-0).
