Madison Square Garden hosted Matchroom Boxing’s The Ring 6 card on Saturday, where Newark native Shakur Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs) defeated Brooklyn-born Teófimo López (22-2, 13 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 12-round super lightweight world title bout in front of a sold-out crowd.
The night of championship fights at Madison Square Garden, one of the great boxing stages in the world, showcased rising stars and reaffirmed New York’s place in boxing’s future.
Stevenson won the WBO and Ring Magazine world super lightweight championship, becoming the 25th fighter in boxing history to win a world title in four divisions.
Both fighters made big entrances to the main event. Stevenson walked out first with rapper YFN Lucci performing “JAN. 31ST (MY TRUTH).” López followed with an entrance featuring The Jabbawockeez, a masked hip-hop dance crew, who performed a choreographed routine on the MSG walkway.
From the opening round, Stevenson controlled the fight using quick footwork, sharp counters, and defensive movement to keep López off balance. López tried to press forward but struggled to land clean shots throughout the bout. Stevenson’s dominance became clearer in the later rounds, and all three judges scored the fight 119-109. After the win, Stevenson called out Conor Benn as a potential next opponent.
In the co-main event, Keyshawn Davis (14-0, 10 KOs) made his super lightweight debut against Jamaine Ortiz (20-2-1, 10 KOs) in a 12-round bout. The fight started at a slow pace and drew boos from the crowd during the early rounds. Davis began to take control in the second half of the fight, landing cleaner and harder shots as Ortiz faded. The referee stopped the bout at 2:47 of the 12th round, giving Davis the victory by technical knockout. Following the fight, Davis called out Devin Haney.
Brooklyn’s Bruce Carrington (17-0, 10 KOs) secured the WBC featherweight world title with a knockout win over Carlos Castro (30-4, 14 KOs) in a main card 12-round bout that featured consistent action. Momentum shifted between both fighters through the early rounds, but Carrington broke through in the ninth round, landing a right-hand jaw shot that stunned Castro before finishing him with a four-punch combination. The knockout drew one of the loudest reactions of the night.
In a heavyweight bout on the main card, Brooklyn’s Jarrell Miller (27-1-2, 22 KOs) returned to the ring against Kingsley Ibeh (16-3-1, 14 KOs) in a featured 10-round fight. The bout was slow and physical, with a lot of clinching. During the fight, Miller’s hairpiece came off and landed on the canvas before he tossed it aside. Miller won by split decision and joked about his hair situation, with judges scoring the fight 97-93, 97-93 and 96-94 in the end.
In a 10-round middleweight fight on the undercard, Austin Williams (19-1, 13 KOs) of West Palm Beach, Florida, defeated Wendy Toussaint (17-3, 7 KOs) of Huntington, New York, by unanimous decision. Toussaint was knocked down by a powerful punch in the fourth round but recovered and finished the fight. Williams earned the decision with scores of 99-90, 99-90, and 98-91.
The card opened with an eight-round developmental bout between Ziyad Almaayouf (7‑1‑1, 1 KO) and Kevin Castillo (6‑2‑1). Both fighters landed clean punches at times, but Castillo controlled the pace throughout and won by unanimous decision. Judges scored the fight 78-73, 77-74, and 77-74.
