A marquee Friday night of boxing saw unified women's 130 lb, champ Alycia Baumgardner win her defense, but in the co-feature, super middleweight champ Shadasia Green was upset by TKO and haspitalized.
Friday night in New York, unified junior lightweight world champion Alycia Baumgardner successfully defended her titles with an easy unanimous decision win over Korean, Bo Mi Re Shin. However, there was real concern from the co-feature bout, where super middleweight champ Shadasia Green was stopped and then stretchered from the ring to a nearby hospital.
The bouts were part of the Most Valuable Promotions Women's card and were shown on ESPN from the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden.
In the main event, Baumgardner, 18-1, 7 KOs, delivered a commanding performance against Shin, 19-4-3, 10 KOs, successfully defending her WBA/WBO, and IBF world titles in a 10, three minute rounds defense. Baumgardner established clear control from the opening bell being quicker and lander bigger shots. She rocked Shin, who had lost in a previous world title challenge last year to WBC lightweight champ, Caroline Dubois, on a couple occasions and dominated. The official scores were 99-91 and 98-92 twice.
Baumgardner said post-fight that she felt comfortable with her performance and the three minute length over the 10 rounds,
"When we talk about legacy, and we talk about development, these are the types of fights that I need to be in. These are the type of fights that really put my skills to the test and my mentality and my mental. Physically, I have it, but mentally, it's another threshold to overcome."
Now, she would like to try to fight legendary, two division undisputed champ Katie Taylor of Ireland, in what would be a women's mega-fight,
I think when we talk about a Katie Taylor, we talk about someone who is just as skilled. I believe in my abilities, and I'm sure she believes in hers. But when we talk about high-level boxing, when it comes to women, she's a perfect person to be in the ring with.
Meanwhile, in the co-main event New Zealand’s Lani Daniels pulled off an upset scoring a 9th round TKO of champion Shadasia Green to capture the IBF, WBO and Ring Magazine women's super middleweight crowns.
Unlike the lengthier rounds for the main event, this entertaining bout was contested at 10, two minute rounds and both fighters landed significant shots and looked worn down headed into the final rounds.
Daniels, 12-4-2, 2 KOs, turned things in her favor late in the 8th round scoring repeatedly with combinations along the ropes. Clearly, Green, 16-2, was ailing in between rounds, but came out for the ninth. Daniels trapped in her own corner right away landing several shots in a barrage before the referee stopped the fight at just 0:32.
Scary moments ensued, as Green was seen seated in her corner being checked by the ringside doctor, when she began to collapse from the punishment, exhaustion, etc.
As this social media post shows, Green was rushed by paramedics from the ring on a stretcher,
At the post fight press conference, Mike Leanardi, MVP's director of boxing updated that Green, who's from Patterson, NJ, was awake and talking at the hospital. He stated there would be a further update later Saturday. He further reported that Daniels had also been taken to the hospital for a precautionary check after the grueling fight.
Daniels is expected to fly back to New Zealand this weekend having scored only the second KO of her career and scoring one of the biggest women's boxing upsets in recent history.