Shabaz Masoud is the New IBO Super Bantamweight Champion
A much anticipated IBO super bantamweight matchup lives up to the hype. Champion Liam Davies (16-1, 8KO) and Shabaz “Maverick” Masoud (14-0, 4KO) delivered an action-packed bout.
The champion, Davies was not favored by the crowd as the bigger applause was given to Masoud during the ring-walks. This only fueled him as he didn’t hesitate to dictate the pace of the fight early. Maverick didn’t mind fighting off the back-foot as he looked to counter at every opening the champion offered. The roars of approval from the audience for anything Masoud did gave the undefeated challenger motivation to stick to the game-plan.
Davies didn’t care about the crowd or his opponent’s counter-punching ability. The game-plan was simple. He continued to provide heavy pressure, attempting to land anywhere to show he was in control of the fight. The method prompted a couple of low-blow warnings from the referee, but the champion was determined to make the challenger give in. For his trouble, the clash in stances (Masoud being a southpaw) caused a clash of heads that opened a cut over Davies’ right eye in the fourth round.
The composure of Masoud was excellent. He maintained poise amid the heavy pressure, landed the cleaner shots, had better accuracy and much better defensive efficiency. Davies would even increase the pace in the middle to championship rounds, causing Maverick to slightly slow down. The process of adjusting to keep his legs at optimal performance in order to keep turning the champion and maintain composure on his back-foot became difficult. Davies took full advantage showing he would not allow the challenger to run away with the fight.
Judging this contest boils down to which style the viewer favored. Masoud showed superiority in several aspects of the sweet-science while Davies dictated the pace for the majority of the fight. However, the aggression of the champion was not effective for twelve rounds. The judges somewhat agreed as one had a score of 114-113 for Davies. This was overruled by the other judges with scores of 115-113 and 116-112 for Masoud. There was a new champion in Birmingham and the right man won!
Be the first to comment