In the junior middleweight main event of a DAZN card Friday at the Caribe Royale Casino in Orlando, Florida, Yoenis Tellez comfortably outpointed Joseph Jackson by unanimous scores of 100-89.
In the opening round, Tellez (8-0, 6 KOs) landed hard power shots at will, catching Jackson (19-1, 15 KOs) off balance. Future Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire pointed out Jackson’s chin hanging in the air on the broadcast.
Jackson shook his head after some of Tellez’s punches in Round 2 and got in a right hand to Tellez’s jaw. Mere seconds later, though, Tellez floored Jackson in the second round with an enormous left hook. Appearing stunned in the seconds following the knockdown, Jackson climbed to his feet and regained lucidity quickly. Tellez flurried, but Jackson was able to tie him up enough to escape the round by the skin of his teeth.
Tellez, born in Cuba and residing in Texas, was in cruise control for the entire bout. Jackson, of North Carolina, largely refused to engage in the remaining rounds. Jackson – 12 years older than Tellez, 23 – showed impressive survival instincts, pumping a jab when hurt, but didn’t have the power to keep Tellez off him.
At the end of the fourth round, Jackson planted a left directly into Tellez’s crotch. The Cuban sank to the ground, wailing in agony. The blow appeared to be unintentional – but unintentionality spares no pain.
Tellez had recovered by the start of the fifth without much extra time, though, and resumed his dominance. He hurt Jackson to the body in the fifth and made a point of pummeling the midsection for the remainder of the fight.
While he failed to land a single blow of consequence besides the low blow, Jackson avoided getting tagged with another clean punch that could put him down and lasted through several rounds in which he was hurt from body shots. He landed a couple right hands – but nothing that could back Tellez off. A moral victory, if miles away from an official one.
Tellez rocked Jackson with huge right hands in the last round, but Jackson’s chin kept him from going down and his boxing skills kept him out of range of too many damaging shots.
Tellez may draw some criticism for failing to get the stoppage despite landing power shots at will and hurting Jackson so early, but he was never at remote risk of losing the fight.
The card was promoted by Most Valuable Promotions, spearheaded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian.
