Curtis “Showtime� Stevens moving on up

All due regard to our readers in South Africa and Mexico, but the IBF eliminator bantamweight bout at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Thursday night WAS NOT the feature bout of the card.

It was presented as such, and it turned out to be a decent scrap, but in reality, the Curtis Stevens/Carl Daniels super middleweight matchup was the headline attraction.

Stevens, from Brownsville, Brooklyn, upped his record to 12-0 against the crafty vet Daniels, who fell to 49-8-1 with the decision loss.

The undefeated prospect – and he’s still a prospect, not a contender just yet – came to the ring with another Brownsville guy, Zab Judah, who, incidentally, looked carefree and joyous as he watched his pal do his thing.

Stevens weighed 169¼ for the bout and it struck me during the affair, which saw Stevens put pressure on the durable Daniels, that the Brooklyner would be better suited at 160.

Daniels, who held a junior middle title ten years ago, has now lost his last four, but he’s not done yet. He snuck little straight lefts, left hooks and annoying right hooks past Stevens’ guard. Daniels went down from a left hook in the first but was up quickly.

He moved a lot during the bout, showing that his legs certainly are not shot. By the end of the match, Stevens’ nose was leaking blood and he darn well knew he wasn’t in with a vet looking to lay down and pick up a paycheck.

One patron yelled “don’t be lazy� to Stevens in the seventh and while I wouldn’t say he was ever lazy, he could have been a little more active in many spots. Promoter Lou DiBella gave Stevens the first star on the evening but did say within six months, he’d likely be fighting at 160.

Scores were 79-71, 79-72, 77-74.

The IBF eliminator featured two consummate pros doing their thing, and emphasized why that class isn’t a sexy division here in the States. Silence Mabuza from South Africa came away with the win on the cards, going to 19-1 and snagging the No. 1 rating in the IBF bantamweight heap. But I saw it differently. I may have well been the only one in the building apart from Ricardo Vargas and his corner, but dammit, I thought the Mexican landed more (if weaker) shots, dictated the pace and spacing in the bout, and showed far better command of the ring. The judges must think I’m nuts. They saw it 120-107, and 117-110 x2. I looked for Bobby Goodman of DKP after to check his card but couldn’t find him. Vargas drops to 39-12-3. Rafael Marquez is the IBF’s top bantam, and he beat both these gentlemen in 2005.

Jerson Ravelo is ready for bigger and badder foes. He dropped Donnell Wiggins in the first round of their scheduled eight-rounder. The super middle from Newark, NJ, now 16-1, slammed Wiggins with a right and that was it for the Tennessean (24-8-2), who has lost his last three.

Pete Quillin (4-0) was like makeup tonight: he made Tomas Padron (2-4-2) look better than he is, by standing up too straight, not using his jab enough, and not moving his head enough. All due respect to Padron, but he owns some of the slowest hands I’ve ever seen on a pro, and he was able to hit Quillin. Not to be overly harsh, Kid Chocolate is new at this savage science, but the middleweight looked better on the John Duddy undercard in March.

James Moore (6-0) gave fellow Irishman Kevin McBride, in attendance in NYC, a reason to whoop when he dropped Chuck Orso (4-7) in the first with a left hook to the body in a junior middleweight scheduled for six.

Super middle Juan Cabrera (4-0) kicked things off with a beatdown on Frank Armstrong (3-9-3). It was a left hook to the body in the first which sent Armstrong back to NC with the loss.

PS: Furio was there. He didn’t beat up anyone…Lou said Stevens will fight on the Cotto/Malignaggi undercard…Paulie was in the house, eating up the acclaim. It’ll be ludicrous if he beats Cotto. The city will go crazy for the kid…The ring announcer told the crowd not to throw the candies Kid Chocolate Quillin threw into the crowd past-bout back into the ring. Amazingly, they complied!…I don’t think they sold that much beer at the venue…Before the Quillin bout, a patron yelled, “Stop praying, just f— him upâ€? as Quillin knelt in his corner and said a prayer before the bout began…Another patron yelled “bring on the top ten!â€? after Stevens got the win. Let’s not be hasty, now…

(Email news tips to Michael Woods at Fightwrite@gmail.com)