Jahi Tucker W10 Lorenzo Simpson ... In Newark, New Jersey, Jahi Tucker (15-1-1, 6 KOs) settled his beef with Lorenzo Simpson (15-3, 9 KOs) with a ten-round points victory after weeks of online back-and-forth. The judges scored it 96-94 and 97-93 (twice) in Simpson's favor. The bad blood carried into the ring, as both wasted no time trading at close range. Simpson succeeded with left uppercuts to the body and straight lefts to the head, but Tucker landed more consistent power shots. In rounds four and five, Tucker turned up the pressure, walking Simpson down and unloading combinations while ignoring return fire that connected often. By the sixth and seventh, Tucker changed tactics, boxing from the outside and connecting with right hands and left uppercuts before moving again. He continued switching styles down the stretch, outpointing a game Simpson in the exchanges.
Tucker said afterwards, “The difference was that I really wanted it more. He’s a hell of a fighter, but it was crunch time for me. You know how it is. There was no real bad blood. We’re just two solid competitors. We’re two guys trying to feed our families. Of course, when you want that spot, you come to fight. He came to fight, so I had to dig deep.”
UNDERCARD RESULTS
Junior welterweight Brandun Lee (30-0, 23 KOs) won an eight-round unanimous decision over Elias Araujo (22-6, 9 KOs). All three scores were 80-72...
Junior middleweight Dwyke Flemmings Jr. (11-0, 10 KOs) needed just over two minutes to stop Demian Fernandez (15-7, 5 KOs)...
In the junior featherweight division, Lisandra Contreras (1-0) won a unanimous decision over Montana Weems (1-1, 1 KO). The four-round bout was scored 40-35 across the board.
Heavyweight Norman Neely (16-1, 11 KOs) stopped James Willis (6-2-1, 5 KOs) in the first round...
Welterweight Muadh Abdus-Salaam (1-0) won four-round majority decision over Roberto Cantos (1-4). The official scores were 38-38, 39-37 and 40-36.
Junior middleweight: Kahshad Elliot (5-0, 4 KOs) won a four-roud unanimous decision over Titus Ashe (1-1, 1 KO), via scores of 38-35 and 38-36 (twice).
Heavyweight Jamar Talley (3-0, 3 KOs) stopped Kurt Fleming (3-1, 2 KOs) in the second round and...
Light heavyweight Arjan Iseni (4-0, 4 KOs) stopped Kaine Tomlinson Jr. (1-1, 1 KO), also in round two.
