Keyshawn Davis to settle things with Albright once and for all in the ring.Once again at the Norfolk Scope, this rematch of their October 2023 scrap was a sloppy affair for much of the fight.
Walking to the ring in a Spartan helmet, Albright (17-3-1, 7KOs) had a look of determination as he entered the ring. Davis (15-0, 10KOs), on the other hand, had his three sisters sing a spiritual before he came out all smiles while riling the crowd up. The first four rounds saw referee Malik Waleed doing more in the ring than the two fighters.
Of the two, Davis technically won the rounds with the darting jabs to the body that went unanswered. It wasn’t until round five that things got serious as Albright clocked Davis, putting him in trouble until the end of the round when he caught Albright with a right and taunted him a bit after the bell. Round six saw Davis finally open up on Albright and show his ring generalship, culminating with driving Albright into the ropes from a furious flurry in the final twenty seconds of the round.
Into the second half, Davis was landing on Albright at will, but it was still a nasty affair. In round seven, Albright was body slammed into the mat after Davis became frustrated with the constant tie-ups. In round eight, Albright returned the favor by tossing Davis to the canvas, but Davis followed that by dominating the round with precision overhand rights.
By the eleventh round, Davis was really tearing Albright apart with overhand rights and combinations that finally gave the hometown crowd what they wanted to see. The twelfth was more of the same, even taking Albright off his feet for a moment from a sharp overhand right. The decision was never in doubt. Paul Wallace saw it 117-109 while Paul D’Atillio and Troyce Stamey had it 118-108, all in The Businessman’s favor.
In the co-feature, Brian Norman Jr. (29-1, 23KOs) dominated Josh Wagner (19-3, 10KOs) in a furious beatdown. The first round saw Norman pepper jabs at will with surgical speed, showing the match with new trainer Ronnie Shields had paid off. Then, Norman put the pedal to the metal and dropped Wagner twice from a pair of furious corner flurries.
Wagner complained to the doctor that he had injured his shoulder after the second knockdown, leading referee Eric Irizarry to waive off the fight at 1:24 of the second round.Rounding out the DAZN broadcast, Yan Santana (17-0, 13KOs) inexplicably pulled out a unanimous decision over Christian Cruz Chacon (24-8-2, 10KOs) in a fight that saw Cruz dominating all but the first three rounds.
Even though Santana got the nod, the crowd cheered their love for Cruz as his cornerman paraded the underdog around the ring on his shoulders. Meanwhile, Kelvin Davis (16-1, 8KOs) seemed befuddled by the aggressiveness of “Pistol” Pete Dobson (17-4, 10KOs) on the way to his own dubious split decision win.
Although the unofficial scorecards from DAZN saw Davis winning the first four rounds, it was hard to really say he did anything but survive during the first half of the fight. Things were not much better in the second half, as Davis kept slipping to the canvas every time Dobson gained momentum during round eight. The final round showed Davis to be sloppy, even throwing a cheap shot that stopped the action for a moment. Somehow still, judges Brian Costello and Gil Clancy saw it in Davis’s favor while judge Jim Ansbro’s 98-92 card for Dobson favored reality.
In the untelevised portion, Keon Davis (5-0, 3KOs) pressed the action hard to sweep the scorecards against a game Edwine Humaine Jr. (9-3, 7KOs) while Dedrick Crocklem (7-0, 3KOs) slogged through the hug and hold tactics of Eric Howard (7-3, 2KOs) to his own unanimous decision.
Overall, much of the “Unfinished Business” card was a disappointment, but the final two fights of the night managed to wow the crowd with highlight reel wins. For Norman, his skills under legendary trainer Ronnie Shields seemed honed to a knife’s edge tonight, which showed he should hunt for a rematch with Devin Haney.
For Davis, struggling to make 140 combined with how impressive he looked fighting above it against Gustavo Lemos, he might really want to make the jump to welterweight for his next fight, as his last two fights were quite uninspired. Given the action fights often provided by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing since DAZN’s inception, Bob Arum should take note that fight cards like this will not go down well with fans who pay twenty-five dollars a month for quality fight cards.
