Undefeated Abdullah Mason was in a different world against veteran Luis Lebron on Saturday as he notched a third-round TKO victory in their lightweight contest on the Shakur Stevenson-Artem Harutyunyan undercard at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Mason (14-0, 12 KOs) made a statement in arguably his strongest test by destroying the 31-year-old Lebron (21-6-1, 13 KOs) in three rounds. The punishment was so severe that his corner threw in the towel as Lebron’s nose bled openly.
Cleveland’s Mason, 20, established his jab from the opening bell to set up good combinations. The prospect’s speed and power harrowed the veteran Lebron, who nevertheless kept coming.
In the second round, Mason, a southpaw, worked the body of Lebron with good shots before landing a big right hand, which left his Puerto Rican opponent’s nose bloodied. Mason did not stop there, continuing to pummeling Lebron to record two quick knockdowns.
The first knockdown came from an uppercut that left Lebron taking a knee. Mason loaded a flurry of punches to the head and body for the second, but Lebron was saved by the bell.
At this stage, it was obvious Mason was determined to prove a point against Lebron, unleashing more punishment that started with quick jabs and followed with power shots that forced Lebron’s corner to call it.
Dominican Republic’s Eridson Garcia proved too strong for William Foster III in their 10-round junior lightweight contest.
In dominant fashion, Garcia (19-1, 12 KOs), who trains out of Houston, Texas, recorded a one-sided 99-91, 98-92 unanimous decision victory over Foster (18-2, 11 KOs).
Garcia opened the round with good shots to the face and body, and landed a big right hand that nearly sent Foster to the canvas. Foster struggled to keep up with the tempo of the fight but stood firm to finish the round.
The second round commenced on a similar note, with Garcia troubling Foster with good combinations that wobbled him. Garcia kept looking for more of such shots, though his opponent managed to weather the storm.
Foster, 30, struggled to put his punches together and gave Garcia, 30, the opportunity to exploit his flaws. With a two-punch combination, Garcia proved too powerful to handle for his opponent in Round 3. In the fourth, Garcia landed a left hook to the jaw of Foster, who nevertheless appeared untroubled.
The fifth was a quiet round for both fighters, but Foster finally came around in the sixth, landing a few clean shots. Garcia, however, returned the favor.
The latter rounds saw Foster trying to claw back into the fight, but Garcia seemed unconcerned. He landed an uppercut late in the ninth after he had been warned for a low blow.
The fighters exchanged punches in the final round, with Garcia showing no complacency and even fighting as if he were behind on the scorecards, en route to an emphatic victory.
In a four-round featherweight contest, Keith Colon, in his pro debut and in front of his home crowd, announced himself to the division with an explosive second-round stoppage of Hunter Turbyfill.
Colon, from Newark, landed good combinations to the body and face of Turbyfill (5-2, 1 KOs), forcing the referee to end the fight abruptly in the second round. Colon (1-0, 1 KOs) took the fight to his opponent right from the first round by utilizing his jab. He landed a good right hand to the head, but Mempihs’ Turbyfill fought back.
Colon went in for the kill in the second with body shots and clean punches upstairs that sent Turbyfill to the canvas. He followed up with combinations that forced the referee to wave off the fight.
Kelvin Davis, older brother of Keyshawn Davis (also fighting on the Stevenson-Harutyunyan undercard), slipped by Kevin Johnson to walk away with a majority decision victory in an eight-round junior welterweight contest.
Davis (13-0, 7 KOs), of Norfolk, Virginia, worked to establish his jab and impose his superior length against Johnson (12-4, 8 KOs), of Detroit, from the start. And the strategy was mostly effective – but in large part because Johnson’s one-note approach wasn’t much of a deterrent.
Johnson, 31, pushed forward in hopes of overwhelming and beating the 27-year-old southpaw Davis to the punch – but did so too infrequently. He struggled to cut off the ring against Davis, who stabbed away with his right hand and countered with solid results, often from the back foot. Johnson turned up his activity and landed enough blows in the later rounds to create a bit of drama, if not turn the tide, for the announcement of the scorecards, which read 76-76 and 78-74 (twice) in favor of Davis.
To open the show, heavyweight Ali Feliz blew out Robinson Perez for a four-round unanimous decision win in a four-rounder.
Feliz (3-0, 2 KOs), of Danbury, Connecticut, was a gold medalist at the 2023 U.S. Olympic team trials last December, and his class showed against the 31-year-old Perez (2-0), of Southbridge, Massachusetts.
Feliz moved like a cruiserweight and flashed excellent punch variety and a mature approach for a 20-year-old heavyweight. He marked up the left eye of Perez, who was durable enough to avoid the stoppage but otherwise had far too little to avoid the 40-36 blanking on all three scorecards.