Junior lightweight Haven Brady Jr. brought the heat in his first headliner at 22-years-old, blazing through OTX 9 Summa Bash in his home state of Georgia.
Brady dominated Jesus Vasquez Jr. at the Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta on Friday night, securing an eight-round unanimous decision with the scores of 80-72 on all three judges’ scorecards.
Brady (13-0, 5 KOs), from Albany, Georgia, seized his promotion from being on the undercard to top spot on the bill with a commanding performance. Utilizing jabs to the body and forward movement, he overwhelmed the 33-year-old Vasquez (11-3, 3 KOs) of Englewood, Colorado, in a largely uncompetitive bout.
The telecast noted that the smaller ring may have hindered Vasquez’s mobility, favoring Brady’s aggressive style. Brady’s physical strength and raw power prevented Vasquez from setting the pace. While Brady pressed forward, Vasquez became elusive and passive, reducing his output. Despite this, Brady couldn’t pin him down or cut off the ring effectively.
“When you don’t have an opponent who wants to fight, it makes it harder for you, because they are not opening up at all,” Brady said after the fight. “The ref was letting him get away with holding and putting his head down.”
With many fans making the nearly three-hour drive from Albany to see him perform, Brady intensified his pressure to their roaring approval. He rocked Vasquez in the seventh round although Vasquez, a tough opponent who has never been stopped, held on. Brady sought a knockout to please his fans, but Vasquez refused to go down.
This fight marked the third time Brady has gone eight rounds as a professional.
Bantamweight Saul Sanchez (21-3, 12 KOs), 27, of North Hollywood, California, edged Arthur Villanueva (35-6-1, 20 KOs), 35, of the Philippines, to win a unanimous decision with scores of 78-74 (twice) and 77-75.
In a competitive, back-and-forth fight with ebbs and flows, both fighters started by trading punches to earn respect before moving to counterpunching at a distance. Sanchez won the early rounds, landing more effective punches despite Villanueva’s higher volume. In the fourth round, Villanueva landed a flush right hand on Sanchez’s nose that caused redness, but Sanchez continued to press forward, targeting the body. Villanueva gained confidence, having a strong fifth round as well. The remaining sessions were hard to call, with the final round seeing Sanchez coming out aggressively and Villanueva landing a big right hand that pushed Sanchez back. Villanueva’s power appeared to be a factor in the later rounds, but the fight did not go to an ‘overtime round’ as OTX Boxing rules allow in case of a draw.
Punch stats favored Sanchez, who landed 139 of 524 blows, while Villanueva landed 97 of 557.
Sanchez lost a majority decision to Jason Moloney in January for the bantamweight title in his last fight.
Women’s junior middleweight Oshae Jones (6-0, 3 KOs), 26, of Toledo, Ohio, scored a fifth-round technical knockout over Simone da Silva (17-34, 6 KOs), 40, of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Jones controlled the fight, cutting off the ring effectively. Her body shots had a significant impact on da Silva, who struggled to do much besides survive. A right hook to the body floored da Silva in the fifth round. Although da Silva got to her feet, a flurry from Jones forced referee Ansel Stewart to stop the fight at 1:54.
The bout was a rematch of a 2023 fight that Jones won via majority decision.
Junior welterweight Kurt Scoby (14-1, 12 KOs), 28, of New York, knocked out Daniel Lim (11-2, 3 KOs), 24, of Deerfield Beach, Florida, by way of the Philippines, in the first round of their six-round bout. Scoby dropped Lim early with a left hook set up by a power jab. Another left hook sent Lim down again. The fight ended with a left hook to the body at 2:03.
After the fight, Scoby jumped on the turnbuckle, yelling, “They doubted me.”
Scoby was stopped in April by Dakota Linger at this very arena. Now aiming to campaign at lightweight, Scoby called out Giovanni Marquez, the son of Raul Marquez.
Junior welterweight David Lopez (6-0, 4 KOs), 21, of Oakland, California, won a six-round unanimous decision over Pedro Pinillo (5-8, 5 KOs), 23, of Cali, Colombia via the scores of 60-54 on all three cards. The 6ft Lopez used his reach advantage to dictate the range against the 5ft 7ins Pinillo. Lopez fought patiently, systematically breaking down Pinillo. In the fourth round, Lopez appeared to drop Pinillo with a check right hook, but it wasn’t called as Pinillo’s glove seemed to touch the canvas. This bout was a good developmental test for Lopez, who had knocked out four previous opponents in the first round. Lopez has now gone 14 rounds as a professional.
Lightweight Jonathan Mansour (2-0, 1 KO), 23, of La Mesa, California, scored the first knockout of his career with a first-round victory over Edgar Uvalle (2-5-2, 2 KOs), 27, of Des Moines, Iowa. Mansour aggressively pursued the stoppage, prioritizing offense over defense. He trapped Uvalle in a corner and landed a series of hooks, prompting referee Nate Mann to administer what appeared to be a standing-eight count, though Uvalle might have been supported by the ropes calling for the count. Mansour continued his relentless attack, and the fight was stopped at 2:25 of the first round as Uvalle was unable to defend himself.
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