Philadelphia Middleweight Jamaal Davis Suffers Controversial Stoppage In New York

© Gianluca “Rio” Di Caro

Philadelphia’s middleweight battler Jamaal ‘Da Truth’ Davis was just 81 seconds from certain victory on Wednesday night at the Hard Rock Times Square in New York when the referee stepped in to stop the fight with New Jersey’s Richard Pierson after a cut Davis received during an accidental clash of heads two rounds earlier re-opened.

Davis’ plan of attacking from the start and keeping on the inside of his much taller opponent, was paying dividends as Jamaal dominated every round prior to the fourth round head clash.

The cut gave Pierson hope of turning the fight around and for the remaining minutes, he went on the attack, targeting the wound enough to win him the round.

When the bell rang for the fifth, Davis charged out of his corner and regained control by staying on the inside and again making life really hard for the taller Pierson by keeping him pinned on the ropes as much as possible.

There was no change in tactics during the sixth and final round for Davis as again he went straight on the attack from the start, but just 1 minute and 39 seconds into the round, Pierson landed a punch right on the cut brow, opening it up and spurring the the referee to jump in to stop any more damage being done.

After returning from having the cut stiched, Davis, who was clearly unhappy at the decision, said “It [the cut] wasn’t affecting me at all. He [the referee] didn’t need to stop the fight. I don’t get it, there was more blood in the fourth. I was on top with less than a minute to go. Why stop it?”

His disapointment seemed short lived though, as within minutes Davis was laughing and joking with family and freinds before posing for photographs with his trainer Sharron Baker and a bevy of beautiful female admirers.