ARLINGTON, Texas – Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington didn’t quite get the explosive performance he wanted, but he delivered a composed and dominant one, dropping Australia’s Dana Coolwell twice en route to a comfortable eight-round decision at AT&T Stadium on Friday night. The featherweight contest was the first of seven on a card topped by the heavyweight match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.
Coolwell, 13-3 (8 KOs), kept it fairly close in the first round, working behind a swift, snapping jab, but New York’s Carrington found his rhythm in the second, and the gap in class was swiftly apparent as Carrington dug to the body and landed clean right hands. Coolwell fired back, but his punches didn’t have the snap of Carrington’s, and the Brooklynite was able to block or slip most of the incoming fire while responding with fierce combinations of his own.
A comfortable and confident counterpuncher, Carrington, 14-0 (8 KOs), lured Coolwell onto him in the fourth, and then dropped him on his rear with a pair of right hands off the ropes. Coolwell continued his efforts to fight back, and had another close round in the seventh as Carrington cruised toward the finish line.
But in the eighth, Carrington opened up some more. A short right hand hurt the Australian, who walked backward toward the ropes, where a left and a right from Carrington dropped him to one knee. Coolwell made it to the final bell, but the judges’ verdict was a unanimous 80-70 win across the board for Carrington.
Also on the three-fight preliminary card, Shadasia Green, 15-1 (11 KOs), won a vacant super middleweight title via split decision over Melinda Watpool, 7-1 (2 KOs). Scores were 96-94 Watpool and 96-94 and 97-93 for Green.
The first round saw Green displaying her superior boxing skills and footwork as she jabbed and circled the static Watpool, but the Canadian soon found her range and for several rounds was able to back Green up repeatedly with a thudding jab to the chest before landing power punches with Green on the ropes.
In the sixth, however, Green stepped on the gas and appeared to hurt Watpool several times with clean power punches, including a cuffing right hand that sent her partway across the ring. She continued that approach in the first half of the seventh, although Watpool came back strongly over the second half of the round. In the ninth, both women looked to land power punches in close, before Green closed out the show by once again circling and boxing in the 10th.
In lightweight action, Lucas Bahdi was unable to replicate the KO of the Year dramatics that he produced against Ashton Sylve last time out, as he was taken the distance for just the third time in his pro career while winning a close majority decision over Italy’s Armando Casamonica, 14-1 (3 KOs).
Casominca was the active fighter all night, constantly coming forward and attempting to pressure Bahdi. But as he showed against Sylve, Bahdi, 18-0 (15 KOs), is a skilled counterpuncher, and the punches he landed as Casominca stepped forward were the harder and cleaner blows throughout. Scores were 96-93 and 98-92 for Bahdi, and 95-95.
Kieran Mulvaney has written, broadcast and podcasted about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters, among other outlets. He also writes regularly for National Geographic, has written several books on the Arctic and Antarctic, and is at his happiest hanging out with wild polar bears. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com.