Lightweight title contender Abdullah Mason (13-0, 11 KOs) defeated Ronal Long (14-6, 11 KOs) by fourth-round KO on Saturday night at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi to top the rankings. Texas had perhaps the best performance on the card.
(Courtesy of Mikey Williams/Top Rank)
Mason, 20, was removed from the main part of the card by Top Rank promoters, but defeated Ronal Long with an impressive two-knockdown performance to earn him the headliner spot between Jared Anderson and Riyad Mahy. Raised it even higher. It's a shame that Mason didn't appear in any of the three matches on the main card.
Mason dropped Ron into the pipe with a straight left and right in the first round. In the fourth, Mason nailed Ron with a powerful body shot, knocking him down for the second time in the match. After that, he finished it off with a series of powerful shots. At 1:02 of the fourth round, the referee intervened and stopped the bout.
Boxing fans on social media believe the referee stopped the fight a little early. Ron was still upright and giving his best at the time, but the referee had seen enough.
Despite being stopped, Ron showed good punch resistance and made it through the first three rounds without being knocked out, taking some hard shots from Mason that would have stopped many fighters. In the fourth round, Mason landed a perfectly placed left to the body on Ron that delayed his reaction and knocked him down.
Ron got to his feet and chose to slug it with Mason rather than hold on to recover from the shot. It turned out to be a mistake as Ron instantly tore him apart with hard punches and Ron was unable to block them.
With this performance, Mason looks ready to fight for a world title soon. If he moves up to 140, his chances for a title shot will further accelerate.
