ShoBox: The New Generation made its 2016 debut tonight, with a three fight card live from Tucson, Arizona. As usual, this card was highly entertaining and had a number of bright young prospects who went all out, with all three fights ending before the final bell.
In the main event, middleweight Rob Brant (19-0, 12 KOs) put on an absolutely sensational performance vs. Decarlo Perez (15-4-1, 5 KOs) by going on the attack from the opening bell and breaking down his opponent with a variety of sharp punches.
Brant threw nearly 100 punches in the first round, which is very uncharacteristic for him, as he has shown much more poise and patience in prior fights. Tonight was far different for the undefeated middleweight, as he sensed that he could knock out the inferior Perez early.
In the third round, Brant landed a straight right hand to the head of Perez which put him down for the first time in the fight. Perez did not seem hurt or dazed at all from the punch that put him down, but the effects of that punch would show in the fourth round when Brant ended the fight.
Rob Brant capped off his ShoBox performance with the perfect finish as he put Decarlo Perez to sleep with a straight right that sent him between the ropes and onto the canvas, causing the referee to step in and immediately stop the fight.
Brant could not have had a better night and will likely receive a hefty step up in his next fight, possibly against another young rising ShoBox middleweight such as Antonie Douglas or Dominic Wade.
In the co-main event, we saw an absolutely exhilarating heavyweight clash between two young prospects who put it all on the line. Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller (16-0-1, 14 KOs) stopped Donovan Dennis (12-3, 10 KOs) in the seventh round of their fight, in which Miller knocked Dennis down twice in the first round: the initial one being with a straight right hand and the second with a vicious right uppercut. Dennis was nearly stopped in the first round before he was saved by the bell and pure instinct.
Dennis came out in the second round and started to use his outside game while landing occasional straight left hands on the much bigger Miller, which Dennis had some success with. Miller’s power was and size was just too much for Dennis, who was constantly getting hit with uppercuts and body shots on the inside.
Dennis looked dead tired from the two knockdowns he suffered, but was a live dog in the ring throughout, and actually had Miller hurt once in the fifth round, but did not follow up with any more punches, afraid of what was coming back on the other end.
The fifth round was terrific, both men threw bombs and had each other hurt a bit, which was expected as they are both big punchers with knockout power. The main problem in this fight for Dennis was Miller was hurting and wobbling him easily while Donovan had trouble even moving the 275 pound Miller.
The fight ended in the seventh round, with Dennis looking dead tired, and Miller looking poised to finish: which he did in fashion. He got Dennis into the corner and landed about four brutal power punches to the head that put Dennis out on his feet for good, causing the ref to step in and end the fight.
Miller still looked a bit too overweight for this fight, and despite catching a second wind later in the fight when he scored the knockout, he looked gassed during the third and fourth round, both of which Thaboxingvoice.com scored for Dennis.
Miller did prove that his power is real and it carries late, but will need to get right back in the gym and get into that 250-265 range for his next fight because he would be a lot more effective after shedding the pounds because then he’d be able to cut off the ring against the athletic fighters that he called out during the post-fight interview.
Overall, it was a terrific performance for both boxers who will both have no trouble finding a fight after these courageous displays. Dennis should most likely take a few tune-ups, work on his defensive techniques, and then try a step up sometime later in the future.
We will most likely see “Big Baby” headline another Shobox event or two, but it would not be crazy to believe that he will be contending within the next year or so. Thaboxingvoice had Miller up 57-55 at the time of the stoppage.
The first televised fight of the night saw an impressive three round destruction by Kazakhstan super lightweight Bakhtiyar Eyubov (10-0, 10 KOs) over American Jared Robinson (16-3-1,7 KOs.)
Eyubov immediately knocked Robinson down with a left hook that had Robinson foggy for the rest of the fight, getting knocked down several more times before being stopped in the corner by a barrage of punches thrown by Eyubov.
Eyubov passed this test with flying colors and proved that his power is scary for his division, but needs to show more balance and poise while on the attack, as it looks as if a skilled boxer would toy with him at this point in his career.
Shobox continued their streak of putting their prospects up against either tough veterans who have been in big fights before or fellow prospects who are just as hungry as their opponents, leaving fans asking for more every time.
