Photo by Amber Williams/RBRBoxing
On June 18, 2016, Rau’Shee Warren (14-1, 4 KOs) avenged the only loss in his career with a 12-round majority decision victory against Juan Carlos Payano (17-1, 18 KOs) to win the WBA and IBO Bantamweight title at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.
The twelve-round fight was televised on NBC.
Warren, 29, is a three-time Olympian of Cincinnati, Ohio. Though he lost in each of the first round in each Olympic visit, Warren’s professional career as fared better.
The only blemish on his career, however, was his 2015 loss against Payano. Warren, keeping this in mind, began the fight by controlling the activity with a lot of punches, especially his right hook.
For most of the early rounds, Payano, 32, of the Dominican Republic, fought almost neck-and-beck with Warren, and he even had his moments in the later rounds.
However, it was Warren who landed shots more cleanly and consistently. Indeed, the scorecards reflect the kind of fight it was: one judge had it a 114-114 draw, while two had it 115-113 for Warren.
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