Steven Nelson TKO8 Cem Kilic.. In Atlantic City New Jersey on Saturday,  Steven "So Cold" Nelson made the most of his ESPN-televised debut, grinding down and then stopping Cem Kilic in the eighth round of a super middleweight bout. Nelson (16-0, 13 KOs), a stablemate of pound-for-pound great Terence "Bud" Crawford, spent the first 14 bouts of his career as a light heavyweight. He moved down to the super middleweight ranks at the end of 2019, and after only two fights in the division, he has added his name to the list of contenders. Kilic (14-1, 9 KOs) trailed 70-63 on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage. “I’m just happy that there was no harm done to me and no major harm done to him. He’s a great opponent," Nelson said. “By this time next year, I want to fight for a world title. I leave that in the hands of my management and Top Rank.

 

MORE RESULTS

 

Xander Zayas (3-0, 2 KOs), the 17-year-old Puerto Rican cruised to a four-round unanimous decision over Corey Champion (1-2, 1 KO) in a four-round welterweight bout (40-36 (twice) and 40-35). “It was a good experience for me to get those four rounds in," Zayas said. "I wasn’t disappointed, but I was trying to get the KO. It didn’t come. I wasn’t worried. We did our job and we move forward.”

 

Top lightweight Joseph "Blessed Hands" Adorno (14-0-1, 12 KOs) received the first blemish on his record, as he was held to an eight-round split draw against Hector Garcia (14-7-4, 8 KOs). The scores were 77-75 Adorno, 77-75 Garcia and 76-76.

 

South Philadelphia-born heavyweight Sonny "The Bronco" Conto (6-0, 5 KOs) scored the fourth first-round stoppage of his young career, knocking down Curtis Head (5-5, 3 KOs) three times...

 

Welterweight Shinard Bunch (6-1, 5 KOs) moved his unbeaten streak to five with a sixth-round TKO over Dennis Okoth (4-3-1, 2 KOs)....

 

Super bantamweight prospect Jeremy "Magic Hands" Adorno (4-0, 1 KO) pitched a four-round shutout (40-35 3x) over Fernando Ibarra (2-3, 0 KOs).

 

New Jersey-based super middleweight Chris Thomas (14-1-1, 9 KOs) stopped Samir Barbosa (37-17-3, 26 KOs) at 46 seconds of the opening round. source for all results: top rank press release