All photos by Esther Lin/Showtime
In the main event of the Friday, November 6 edition of Sho Box, Middleweights Antoine Douglas (19-0-1, 13 KOs) and Les Sherrington (35-8, 19 KOs) entered the ring to clash for the vacant WBO International Middleweight title.
The action began early as Sherrington hit the deck in the first round, but got up, apparently unhurt and continued the round.
Sherrington was dropped again in the second round and seemed to be more effected than by the first, but still rose and easily finished the round.
Round 3 was more of the same and Sherrington was put on the seat of his trunks twice more, courtesy of straight right hands by a precise punching Douglas.
The end came in Round 4 as Sherrington met the canvas for a fifth time, prompting the referee to mercifully call a halt to the carnage.
Douglas keeps Sherrington off balance with his fourth knock down of the fight #ShoBox #Boxing pic.twitter.com/OQ3fjO1QbU
— SHOWTIME SPORTS (@SHOsports) November 7, 2015
In the Sho Box co-main event, Welterweight Taras Shelestyuk of Ukraine (13-0, 8 KOs) stepped between the ropes to confront Aslanbek Kozaev (26-2-1, 7 KOs) of Russia over 10 rounds for the vacant NABO Welterweight Title.
It was clear over the first few rounds that these fighters were intent in throwing hard shots and causing damage than the previous two bouts.
Southpaw Shelestyuk boxed well and landed flush on the rugged Kozaev in Round 4 and took control of the fight.
In Round 6, a cut opened over the left eye of Kozaev as he was taking increasingly more punishment in each round.
The rugged Kozaez fought gamely, but was thoroughly out gunned and Shelestyuk won a well-deserved unanimous decision by scores of 99-91, 100-90 and 100-90.
Welterweight southpaw Keenan Smith (9-0, 3 KOs) took on Benjamin Whitaker (10-2, 2 KOs) in the second televised eight-round bout of the evening.
Smith, adorned in pink and emblazoned with tattoos began by feinting and using his footwork to set up angles while Whittaker performed well in a more workman type fashion.
Being a worker doesn’t necessarily make you effective however and though neither man had seized control, though Smith seemed to have more control of the tempo.
In the sixth round, Smith suffered a cut over his left eye as the result of an accidental clash of heads that appeared to bother him.
Smith was credited with a knockdown in the first minute of Round 7 with which Whitaker clearly disagreed.
Whitaker pressed the action effectively enough through the round to perhaps account for the extra point and hurt Smith along the ropes in the closing seconds.
In the end, the judges saw the fight in favor of Keenan Smith by scores of 79-73 78-74 78-74.
In the first televised bout of the evening, O’Shanique Foster (8-1, 5 KOs) and Liberian “Tsunami” Samuel Teah (7-1, 2 KOs) tangled in a scheduled eight-round lightweight matchup.
Over the first half of the fight there were no significant shots landed by either fighter as Teah pursued Foster who was content in a more passive role.
Groundhog Day may officially be toward the spring, but it came early this year with each round looking like the previous.
The fight went to the scorecards and Teah was announced the winner by unanimous decision by scores of 79-73, 77-75, 77-75.
