Batyrzhan Jukembayev scores near-shutout win over Mohamed Mimoune in Florida

He needed a feel-good win to keep him inspired in the comeback trail, and he got it.

Batyrzhan Jukembayev (now 22-1 with 16 knockouts) scored a ten-round unanimous decision win over Mohamed Mimoune (23-4, 4 KOs) in a junior welterweight bout on Wednesday night at the Whitesands Events Center in Plant City, Florida, in a card broadcasted by ProBoxTV.

Displaying superior firepower from the very beginning of the fight, Kazakhstan’s Jukembayev dominated almost every exchange against a taller Mimoune, who was never able to take the initiative during the bout. Jukembayev did manage to stagger Mimoune in the fourth round and had him in a defensive shell in many other occasions, but there were never signs of an imminent stoppage from either fighter.

The scorecards read 98-92 (twice) and 99-91 for Jukembayev.

In the main prelim, unbeaten prospect Kelvin Davis (11-0, 6 KOs) defeated Clarence Booth (21-9, 13 KOs) in an eight-round snoozer in the lightweight division.

Davis, brother of Olympic medalist Keyshawn Davis, dominated the fight in a pedestrian performance with lots of holding. Booth tried to take the initiative but Davis kept him at bay and frustrated him to the point where both fighters wrestled and fell to the ground – dragging the referee along with them. The scores were 78-72 and 79-71 (twice).

A light heavyweight prelim between unbeaten contenders saved the night, with Atlanta’s Najee Lopez (8-0, 7 KOs) dominated and stopped Cuba’s Yildo Depestre (7-0, 5 KOs) in three rounds.

A flash knockdown that looked provoked by an off-balance moment had Depestre on the canvas at the very end of the first round, and Lopez really started dropping bombs right at the bell of the second round. With more firepower, skills and athleticism, Lopez laid a progressive beating on Depestre until he froze him dead on his tracks with a couple of hard combinations in the third round, and then finished him off when he had Depestre helpless on the ropes. The referee halted the carnage without a count.

Earlier, unbeaten junior lightweight Dominic Valle improved to 8-0 (7 KOs) with a second-round stoppage of Jensel Lausa (11-2, 7 KOs). Valle was in control of the bout when he landed a crippling body shot that sent Lausa down on his back writhing in pain for the full count.

 

Diego M. Morilla has written for The Ring since 2013. He has also written for HBO.com, ESPN.com and many other magazines, websites, newspapers and outlets since 1993. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and an elector for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He has won two first-place awards in the BWAA’s annual writing contest, and he is the moderator of The Ring’s Women’s Ratings Panel. He served as copy editor for the second era of The Ring en Español (2018-2020) and is currently a writer and editor for RingTV.com.

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