LAS VEGAS – Charles Conwell is continuing to make his case for being involved in the very wide-open, very talented junior middleweight division.
The unbeaten contender received a prime slot on Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, fighting in the co-feature slot underneath two other top 154-pounders: the main event between Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Serhii Bohachuk.
Conwell used that spotlight to score a second-round knockout, landing a body shot that put Khiary Gray down for the full 10 count.
The end came when Conwell landed a left hook to the body, another hook to the head and then returned once more to the body. Gray dropped down, then tried to rise before the referee finished counting, but his body just wouldn’t cooperate. The end came with 28 seconds remaining in the round.
Conwell, 26, of Cleveland, is a 2016 Olympian who turned pro in 2017 and was highly touted as a prospect. But after a majority decision victory over Juan Carlos Abreu in November 2022, Conwell spent nearly 17 months out of the ring. He returned in April, now under the Golden Boy Promotions banner, and scored a sixth-round technical knockout of Nathaniel Gallimore.
This victory over Gray brought Conwell to 20-0 (15 KOs).
“Charles Conwell was incredible,” promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions said afterward. “He’s now ready for a world title, and we’re going after it.”
The junior middleweight division once belonged to Jermell Charlo, who was the undisputed champion but has since vacated or been stripped of all four of his world titles. That has opened the doors for a list of names that includes Bohachuk, Terence Crawford (who now has the WBA world title), Sebastian Fundora (WBC and WBO), Israil Madrimov, Bakhram Murtazaliev (IBF), Ortiz and Tim Tszyu. Perhaps Charlo, last seen stepping up two weight classes to challenge Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2023, could return to 154.
Gray (18-7, 13 KOs) was likely meant to make Conwell look good while also helping Conwell shake off some more rust. A 31-year-old from Worcester, Massachusetts, Gray had been in with some other recognizable names. He was stopped by Spike O’Sullivan in 2019 and lost a decision to Murtazaliev in 2021. Gray had also recently returned from his own extended sabbatical, coming back last December after 25 months away.
Follow David Greisman on Twitter @FightingWords2. His book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
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