Click for larger image © Ed Mulholland / Showtime Boxing

In an upset last night at Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, light welter Kendall Holt took Isaac Hlatshwayo to school, pulling away from the talented South African in the later rounds and dropping the visitor three times enroute to a wide points decision win.

Holt, 21-1 (12), remained patient despite early pressure from Hlatshwayo, 25-1 (9), and used an unerring sense of timing to prevent his opponent from gaining any meaningful momentum.
Hlatshwayo’s fate was sealed when he suffered a bad laceration above the eye during the sixth round and after that was rarely in the bout.

The loss may herald a return to the lightweight ranks for Hlatshwayo, who was undefeated
as both an IBO and South African Champion while Holt annexes the NABO belt after a year long absence from the ring.

Showtime Boxing Report…

HOLT HANDS HLATSHWAYO FIRST LOSS TO WIN NABO TITLE,
ALVAREZ OUTPOINTS GUTIERREZ IN BATTLE OF UNBEATENS

ON A “SHOBOX: THE NEW GENERATION” DOUBLEHEADER
FROM BALLY’S CASINO BALLROOM IN ATLANTIC CITY, NJ

Click for larger image © Ed Mulholland / Showtime Boxing

In an exciting, hard-fought bout, once-beaten Kendall “Rated R’’ Holt dealt previously undefeated Isaac Hlatshwayo his first loss and captured the vacant North American Boxing Organization (NABO) super lightweight title with a super impressive, 12-round unanimous decision in Friday’s main event on “ShoBox : The New Generation.’’ Holt scored three knockdowns and won going away.

In a battle of unbeaten welterweights on the Duva Boxing-promoted co-feature at Bally’s Casino Ballroom, Shamone Alvarez was credited with a flash knockdown in the first-round en route to winning a majority eight-round decision over fast-closing Enrique Gutierrez. The doubleheader aired on SHOWTIME at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast).

Holt (21-1, 13 KO’s) of Paterson, N.J., was making his first start in 14 months, but he showed no signs of ring rust. He dropped the world-ranked Hlatshwayo once in the ninth, 11th and 12 rounds en route to winning by the scores of 119-106 twice and 116-109.

“I trained and sacrificed really hard, which made the win easy,’’ said Holt, who was quicker, hit harder and was much stronger down the stretch .than his highly regarded South African foe. “Isaac was very active. I knew that he wanted to bang with me so I had to move a lot and give him a lot of angles.

“In the seventh, I became winded but I got a second wind in the eighth and was able to finish strong. I want the rest of the division to take me seriously. I can’t be over looked now.”

Hlatshwayo (25-1, 1NC, nine KO’s), of Malamulele, South Africa, was supposed to be stronger in this, his second fight at 140 pounds, but it was not the case. He fought back gamely after getting cut over the left eye from an accidental headbutt in the sixth, but he was a beaten, battered and exhausted boxer at bout’s conclusion.

Alvarez (16-0, 10 KO’s), of Atlantic City, won by the scores of 77-74, 76-75 and 76-76. Nicknamed the “Pride of Atlantic City,” Alvarez built a lead during the early rounds but a surging Gutierrez (10-1, 8 KO’s), of Santa Rosa, Calif., came on very tenaciously to make it extremely close.

“He’s a typical Mexican fighter,’’ Alvarez said. “He came straight forward with constant pressure, but he was more precise that I thought he would be. I felt I was in control most of the fight but by the fifth I noticed he was getting stronger and his lateral movement was tougher to deal with. He was moving a lot more. He was getting tougher to hit.’’
Nick Charles called the action from ringside with boxing historian Steve Farhood serving as expert analyst. The executive producer of “ShoBox” is Gordon Hall, with Richard Gaughan producing.

The bout(s) will re-air this week as follows:

Saturday at Midnight ET/PT SHOTOO (if no live SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING)
Monday at 10 p.m. ET/PT SHO EXTREME
Tuesday at Midnight ET/PT SHO EXTREME
Thursday at 11 p.m. ET/PT SHOTOO