2016 Colombian Olympian Juan Carrillo continued his undefeated tear through the light heavyweight division with a commanding two-shot KO over Virginia’s Quinton Rankin in the 10-Round main event of Salita Promotions’ “Big Time Boxing USA” event on Thursday, March 28, at Wayne State Fieldhouse in Detroit and streamed live on DAZN.
Carrillo (12-0, 9 KOs) overcame a light wobbling at the fists of Charlotte, North Carolina’s Rankin in the first round to come back and stop Rankin (21-9-2, 16 KOs) with a pair of powerful uppercuts.
Despite Rankin’s ferocity at the weigh-in, Carrillo kept his cool and weathered an early storm to allow his superior technique to win the day.
Fighting along the ropes, Carrillo smashed Ranking with a pair of chin shots that ensured his workday was over. The time was:27 of round three.
Current IBF #14-ranked Shohjahon Ergashev (24-1, 21 KOs), of Detroit via Uzbekistan, returned to winning form with an easy demolition of proven veteran Juan Huertas (17-5-1, 13 KOs) Panama City, Panama, in the night’s 10-Round super lightweight co-main event.
To the delight of his many local fans, the powerful Ergashev moved forward behind his trademark clubbing shots and quickly wobbled the out-gunned Huertas. A southpaw left sent Huertas reeling and a follow-up bodyshot made sure the night’s work was over.
Coming off the first loss of his career, Ergashev reasserted himself as a premier power puncher at 140 lbs. with his impressive KO 1 at 2:00 of the round.
Dearborn Heights, Michigan’s Husam Al Mashhadi (9-1, 8 KOs) made quick work of journeyman Daulis Prescott (34-20, 26 KOs) Barranquilla, Colombia, in their scheduled-for-six-round super welterweight bout.
Al Mashhadi hurt Prescott badly with a right, then followed up with a barrage. Despite the wobbling Prescott’s protests, it was waved off at 1:47 of the very first round.
In a minor upset, William Townsel (now 7-1, 5 KOs) Portsmouth, Virginia, had too many more-refined skills for ambitious up-and-comer Nadim Salloum (12-1, 6 KOs) of Brooklyn, New York, via Lebanon, in an eight-round super middleweight fight.
“Turbo” Townsel was too fluid on offense and too defensively sound for the cruder Salloum.
Fighting out of the “Mayweather Shell,” Townsel landed nifty uppercuts on the inside and rocked Salloum with clubbing right hands from in-close repeatedly. Salloum tried but eventually resorted to loading up on shots later in the fight against the craftier Townsel to no avail, as Townsel piled up points.
The unanimous decision for Townsel was scored 79-73 and 80-72 x 2.
In the 10-round super middleweight broadcast opener, IBF #2 and WBO #10 Vladimir Shishkin (16-0, 10 KOs) of Miami, via Russia, made easy work of journeyman Mike Guy (12-8-1, 5 KOs) Sacramento, California, breaking him down and stopping him at 2:14 of round seven.
Shishkin had too many tools for the heavily muscled but under-gunned tough guy, sticking the Californian with withering body shots and clubbing head shots to Guy’s ambitious, but wide-of-the-mark return shots.
Shishkin stayed busy and, no doubt, kept his valuable #2 IBF ranking with the victory, but didn’t produce the highlight-reel KO that would have propelled his fortunes. Guy, to his credit, was tough and a professional survivor and probably could have gone on, but without any real chance of winning.
In a four-round untelevised middleweight scrap to start the night, Detroit’s Josiah Shackleford (2-0, 2 KOs) made quick work of cross-state rival Antwion McCollough (0-4) of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Shackleford dropped McCollough twice, the final time for good at 1:28 of round one with a quick right hand high on the head.
“It was a great night of boxing in Detroit, showcasing some of boxings best talent in the most exciting divisions,” said promoter Dmitriy Salita. “Shishkin is on a verge of a world title shot, Shohjahon Ergashev put himself back in the title picture and Carrillo showed he is a force to be reckoned with in the light heavyweight division.”
