Navarro stuns Allen by TKO in the seventh
On the undercard of Rojas-Diaz, there was a very competitive bout that pitted two undefeated prospects against each other. Damon Allen (15-0-1, 5 KOs) and Jonathan Navarro (14-0, 7 KOs) understood that “somebody’s ‘oh’ had to go!”
Allen is a protege of the famed Allen Gym in West Philadelphia. He boasted an amateur career of over 220 fights before turning professional.
Navarro is the protege of globally respected Robert Garcia. While he was the least experinced of the two, the California based crowd saw him as the favorite.
Both men started the fight weary of making a mistake; as if tarnishing their undefeated records was at the forefront of their minds.
In the early rounds, Allen was deducted a point for low-blows. Regardless of the repremand, he was able to dictate the pace and applied more effective aggression, allowing him to make the round even.
He was also able to open up a cut on Navarro by leading with his head. At that point, it was apparent that Allen had an advantage that he could work with.
The Turning Point
That is, until the fifth round. Navarro started to time Allen beautifully with repeated left hooks as he came in. He had his opponent hurt as the round came to a close and it was obvious Allen had trouble taking the power.
Navarro wasted no time in subsequent rounds. At the end of the sixth, he landed another left hook on the inside with his back against the ropes. This wobbled Allen, sending him to the center of the ring. As Navarro came forward, he landed a straight right that seemed to be after the bell.
The shot discombobulated his opponent so much that he fell to the canvas after trying his hardest to find his legs. Since he fell after the bell, the ref could not count it as a knockdown.
All we could do is wait for Allen to regain his composure; which he struggled to do for about twenty seconds.
As he finally made it back to his corner, fans were waiting on his father/trainer to stop the fight. However, Allen rose for the start of the eighth round.
Consequently, Navarro continued where he left off. He stung his opponent with another hook that sent him to the ropes. The referee caught a stare from Allen as he jumped in to stop the fight, but not before Navarro landed two more right hands.
With the TKO win in the seventh round, Navarro improves to 15-0 with 8 knockouts. Allen normally campaigns at lightweight, but moved up to junior welterweight for this fight.
He may want to move back down as he takes the first loss of his career.
By: EJ Williams
