Kurt Scoby did what he does best: win, and look violent doing it.
The 30-year-old junior welterweight contender headlined a BoxingInsider show from Sony Hall in Manhattan, New York on Friday night. Although he needed to exercise patience, eventually scored an eighth-round knockout win over Alex Martin.
From the moment their first bell rang, Scoby (18-1, 16 KOs) took the center of the ring and pushed his man back with a strong jab. Seemingly caught off guard, Martin shelled up and played defense.
Little offense came back in Scoby’s direction, allowing him to let his hands go as Martin (19-9, 6 KOs) languished against the ropes.
The second round was much of the same. Martin took a defensive stand for the majority of those three minutes, only throwing when he felt comfortable doing so, something that didn’t happen often. Scoby stepped up his level of aggression in the third and fourth rounds.
Much of the jam-packed crowd stood on their feet and cheered as Scoby marched forward while smiling. Martin used his legs in the sixth round, causing Scoby to throw him to the ground on several occasions.
Seemingly destined to make it to the final bell, Scoby responded by turned things up in the final round. Martin, still doing his best to box and move, found himself pinned against the ropes, allowing Scoby to let off a five punch combination and ultimately forcing the referee to step in and wave it off. The undercard results, were as follows:
Earl Newman drops decision to George Arias
Earl Newman had the perfect start to a career. The 34-year-old New Yorker made it look easy against his first 10 opponents while campaigning at light heavyweight. However, this marked his fifth consecutive loss and second straight defeat in the heavyweight division.
For the majority of the eight rounds shared with George Arias (19-1-1, 7 KOs), Newman (10-5-1, 7 KOs) had no answers. He was routinely pushed back, outworked, and outmuscled.
Although his success was minimal, it wasn’t nonexistent. Still, Arias cruised to a unanimous decision victory (78-74 x 2, 79-73) and ended an 17-month layoff in style.
Donte Layne stops Mirady Zola in two
It was a nice and easy day at the office for Donte Layne (8-0, 7 KOs). The super middleweight prospect needed less than two full rounds to take care of business against Mirady Lubanzadio Zola (5-4-1, 2 KOs) with an official stoppage time coming at 0:48.
Andres Martinez upsets Nadim Salloum
Lebanon super middleweight Nadim Salloum (13-3, 7 KOs) had the crowd on his side tonight, but it didn’t mean anything to the upset-minded Andres Martinez (6-4, 3 KOs). The two journeymen slugged it out without a care in the world, landing at will.
In the end, it was Equatorial Guinea's Martinez who did just enough to eke out a split decision win over six rounds on the evening.