Living up to the pre-fight hype, King Sports delivered a spectacular night of action-packed fights and toe-to-toe action capped by a decisive and unanimous decision by Hassan N’Dam over Curtis Stevens to advance to the International Boxing Federation (IBF) Middleweight Title fight against the winner of Sam Soliman-Jermain Taylor scheduled for next Wednesday, Oct. 8.
The Epic Fight Card at Barker Hangar featured five world-class bouts that had the crowd on the edge of their seats and the viewers at home on the live ESPN2 broadcast wanting more.
“It was a great night of fighting at Barker Hangar,” said Michael King, “We are proving to the boxing world that you can stage a fight card that has no undercard and deliver on what boxing fans yearn for…quality, equally-matched bouts.”
Highlighting the night was the middleweight eliminator bout between N’Dam from France and New York’s Stevens for a shot at the IBF title. The fight began with a flurry of punches from Stevens that were quickly countered by N’Dam’s speed and quick jabs. Both fighters exchanged powerful punches in the eighth round with Hassan knocking Stevens to the mat, but Stevens came back with a flurry of his own landing several counter attacks. Hassan, the aggressor throughout, scored a unanimous decision (116-111, 116–111, 119-108) to run his record to 31-1 and a title shot against the Taylor-Soliman winner.
The first bout of the night featured a featherweight division clash between Miguel Marriaga vs. Chris “The S.D. Kid” Martin. Marriaga, the No. 1 Columbian featherweight and ranked No. 9 in the WBC was in command from the opening bell, finishing with a flurry that sent Martin to the canvas in the 6th round that ultimately led to a 6th round TKO. Marriaga’s record improved to 19-0, while Martin fell to 28-4-3.
Hard-hitting welterweight Fredrick Lawson of Chicago, Illinois by way of Ghana put his undefeated record at stake against fellow Ghanaian, Ray Narh, fighting out of Brooklyn, New York. With national pride on the line, both fighters put on a technical display with Lawson striking first, knocking Narh down to the mat with a straight right hand in the 2nd round and again in the 8th with a left hook. Both fighters battled hard for 10 rounds with Lawson earning a unanimous decision (99-89, 95 -93 99-89) remaining undefeated in his professional career at 23-0.
Undefeated cruiserweight Isa Akberbayev from Kazakhstan battled Geovanni Sarran fighting out of Los Angeles. Both fighters went back and forth with Akberbayev finishing Sarran by TKO with a bevy of punches in the 4th round to improve his undefeated record to 13-0.
The final fight of the night took place in the middleweight division with undefeated Ukrainian Sergiy Derevyanchenko squaring off against Lekan Byfield from Atlanta. Dereyanchenko dominated the fight from the opening bell scoring a unanimous decision (40–33, 40–33, 40–33) to remain undefeated.
King Sports second edition of its Barker Hanger events, Epic Fight Night, aired live nationally on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.