Guevara of Stevenson KO in a thrilling homecoming

"There's only one way to describe tonight – amazing," Stevenson said of his first professional fight in his home town. "Seeing all of my family, friends and all the people in the city to bring our support was amazing, we will do more fights and more, we will bring boxing back to Newark."

Stevenson is already in a mandatory position to fight for the 126-pound world title held by Mexican Oscar Valdez. He should therefore fight against Valdez by the end of the year or fight for a vacant belt if Valdez qualifies for the junior lightweight. division as he talked about doing it.

Stevenson would like to fight against Valdez, the Top Rank team, but also called the world title holder, Josh Warrington, of England.

"I think that's the moment," Stevenson said of his title fight. "I'd love to go to England to fight Josh Warrington, we can do it in December, let's go."

Stevenson opened the fight as an aggressor against Guevara, who is a counter-pitcher, and never slowed down. He received body shots and long forehands from his southern paw position to take immediate control of the fight. Guevara had no answer for Stevenson's offense. In the second round, Stevenson landed his left and right hand on the body to knock out Guevara at one knee 30 seconds from time. A right right dropped Guevara for the second time in the last seconds of the turn.

Stevenson (12-0, 7 KOs), 22, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist from the United States, continued to dominate in the third round before clinching a four-shot combination – two body shots, followed by two shots. A right foot and left to the head – which dropped Guevara on his back. He tried to get up but could not beat the count of referee David Fields, who led the fight at 2 minutes 37 seconds.

"It's a great performance I did for the city of Newark," said Stevenson. "I'm glad they came out to support me – Top Rank, you all have to give me a better competition, I want the IBF and WBO titles.

"I surprised myself today, I was often going to look for the body.It did not seem to be fit to weigh, so I went to the body and I completed it until the head. "

According to CompuBox, Stevenson scored 32 of 67 shots (48%), while Guevara only scored 5 of 51 shots (10%).

Guevara, who fought eight days in advance, was the third opponent of that date with Stevenson. He was originally scheduled to fight Hairon Socarras (22-0-3, 13 KO), but Socarras dropped out on various unspecified issues and was replaced by Franklin Manzanilla (18-5, 17 KO's), former World Junior featherweight title challenger , who retired last week saying that he had flu-like symptoms.

Guevara (27-5, 12 KOs), 28, of Mexico City, a two-time heavyweight world title challenger who had trained and was close to the 126 pound weight limit, accepted the fight without hesitation. But he lost his second consecutive fight after being introduced in January by former world junior featherweight champion Hugo Ruiz.

Greer borders Potapov in the eliminator

In the co-feature, the liveweight Joshua Greer Jr. escaped with a majority decision over Nikolai Potapov in a title eliminator that Potapov dominated for long periods. The crowd booed the decision and ESPN analysts, Andre Ward and Timothy Bradley Jr. described the decision as terrible, but Greer (21-1-1, 12 KO), 25, of Chicago, s & # Nevertheless, it is close to the shot. world title.

One judge scored the bout 114-114, but the other two gave it to Greer by scores of 116-112 and 115-113.

"It's very embarrassing with the Russian style, but at the end of the day, it's the pros, and I pulled it out," said Greer. "The boos did not bother me.I know that I won the fight.Every time I hit it in the body, I hurt it.I do not have a problem. I did not have the coup de grace, but I had the victory. "

The fight began slowly, with each man seeking to penetrate inside, but Potapov finally began to hold Greer's punches well and counter it. Greer was repeatedly tagged with the right hand and showed no ability to adapt after being timed in the same manner. Greer's right hand shook Potapov in the last seconds of the fifth round, but it was an ephemeral moment.

In the eighth round, 29-year-old Russian-born Potapov (20-2-1, 11 KO), who was fighting in New York, gave Greer a bloody nose and seemed to be in control. Greer's coach, John Pullman, was shown very worried about the evolution of the fight after the ninth round when he told Greer that he needed to speed up the pace. Greer had a good 10th round and seemed to hurt Potapov with a left hook to the body. Pullman asked Greer to participate in a 12th round and, though he did not deliver the big one, he won on all three scorecards to win the victory.

According to CompuBox, Greer landed 160 shots on 424 (38%) and Potapov logged on 139 out of 638 (22%).

"We think we have been stolen, just like boxing fans," said Dmitriy Salita, the promoter of Potapov. "ESPN and the media have won Nikolai, we are going to appeal the decision, ESPN is an excellent platform for the sport of boxing, we are grateful for this opportunity and what is right." Nikolai won the fight . "

With the win, Greer took another step toward a mandatory 118-pound world title shot by Naoya Inoue, one of the best pound-to-pound fighters in the world, who will then face Nonito Donaire in the final. World Boxing Super Series tournament this fall. The only previous defeat of Potapov was that he resigned after seven rounds against ex-world champion Omar Narvaez in 2017.

More results under card

• Junior welterweight Josue Vargas (14-1, 9 KO), 21, from Puerto Rico fighting in the Bronx, New York, won his eighth straight fight by stopping Manuel Lopez (14-4 -1, 7 KO), 28, of Denver, 2 minutes 50 seconds off the seventh round of their eight rounds. He was hitting him with net shots, including several black cuts, when referee Sparkle Lee intervened.

• The average Vito Mielnicki Jr. (1-0, 1 KO), son of promoter Vito Mielnicki, became the first New Jersey boxer to become a professional at the age of 17 – the New Jersey State Athletic granted a special exemption. Control Board – and won by KO in the first round of Tamarcus Smith of Mississippi (2-3, 2 KO's), 24.

Mielnicki, who sold about 500 tickets, knocked out Smith with a combination that ended with a right hand at 1 minute 16 seconds.

• Junior welterweight Julian Rodriguez (17-0, 11 KO), 24, of Hasbrouck Heights, NJ, returned from a layoff of nearly two years, caused mainly by injuries, to mark the first round of Kevinson Hevinson Herrera (24- 18-1, 18 KOs), 34, of Colombia, who lost his third consecutive fight.

Rodriguez, known as "Hammer Hands", needed only 59 seconds to put Herrera on the mat with a combination for the full count of referee Lee.

"I was very confident in my preparation, so I felt that I had to go and do what I needed to do," Rodriguez said. "That's what [the fans] as about me. When they come here, they see a show. "

• Junior welterweight John Bauza (13-0, 5 KO), 21, of North Bergen, NJ, defeated and defeated the match. Angel Sarinana (10-9-2, 4 KOs), 26, of Mexico City, in a bleached victory decision. There was a lot of action, but Bauza won 80-72 on all three scorecards.