Brandon Moore continued his win streak, while Skylar Lacy threw away his unblemished record in the ugliest way imaginable.
A dreadful heavyweight fight ended with both fighters tumbling through the ropes and onto the DAZN commentating team table. Moore made it back into the ring in time to be declared the winner via eighth-round disqualification Sunday night at Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan.
The evening’s co-feature never caught fire as both fighters lacked any semblance of skill. Moore did his best to carry the action, while the unbeaten Lacy instinctively clinched at every turn. The tactic drew the ire of referee Steve Willis, normally a fun-loving official who was irritated by the lack of effort from the unbeaten Indianapolis, Indiana native.
Both fighters were docked one point each in the third, even though Moore (17-1, 10 KOs) was really the victim in most, if not all, of the offending instances. Lacy was admonished by Willis again in the fourth and warned that he was on his way to a disqualification.
The fight lumbered on for another four rounds before Lacy found a way out. He lost another point in the eighth and was issued one final warning. It didn’t take, as he immediately tapped into his football background. Lacy wrapped up Moore, buried his shoulder into his opponent’s chest and drove him out of the ring.
Both fighters crashed through the ropes and nearly onto the lap of DAZN lead commentator and The Ring contributor Corey Erdman, who valiantly continued his call without breaking stride.
Willis began a count to where both fighters had 20 seconds to re-enter the ring. Moore rolled through the bottom rope with two seconds to spare, and was declared the winner.
Joseph Hicks earned a stoppage win in his most significant bout to date.
A battle of unbeaten middleweights saw Grand Rapids’ Hicks force Keon Papillion into submission. Referee Anson Stewart honored the request of Papillion’s corner to stop the fight at 1:35 of the seventh round.
Hicks (12-0, 8 KOs) boxed well throughout the contest before he turned up the heat in the seventh. A right hand and left hook set the tone for the fight ending rally. Papillion remained upright but his body language suggested he was done.
It was recognized by Jason Papillion, Keon’s father and trainer who fought in the 1990s and 2000s. The elder Papillion climbed onto the ring apron to get the referee’s attention for the fight to be stopped.
Caroline Veyre (9-1, 0 KOs) nearly registered the first knockout of her career. The 2020 Olympic quarterfinalist for Canada instead settled for an eight-round shutout of Carmen Vargas (5-3-1, 0 KOs). Scores of 80-72 across the board landed in favor of Veyre, who slammed shut Vargas’ right eye and battered her with pinpoint accuracy throughout their featherweight contest.
Ashleyann Lozada made a hell of a statement in her pro debut. The opening bout of the six-fight DAZN stream saw the 33-year-old Puerto Rican southpaw soundly outpoint unbeaten Denise Moran (now 3-1, 0 KOs). Scores were 40-36 on all three cards for Lozada (1-0, 0 KOs), a 2024 Olympic quarterfinalist at featherweight for Puerto Rico.
Headlining the show, Claressa Shields (15-0, 3 KOs), The Ring’s pound-for-pound queen, faces Danielle Perkins (5-0, 2 KOs) for the undisputed heavyweight championship.
Jake Donovan is part of the U.S. team for The Ring. Follow Jake on X and Instagram.