Bruce Carrington overcame the toughest challenge of his young career on Friday, defeating Sulaiman Segawa by majority decision at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
One judge had the fight 95-95, which was the first scorecard the 27-year-old from Brownsville, Brooklyn didn’t win, while the other two judges awarded Carrington the win by scores of 97-93.
The scores told the story of a close, competitive fight where Carrington (13-0, 8 KOs) wanted the win more in the final two rounds. Segawa (17-5-1, 6 KOs) of Silver Spring, Md. by way of Kampala, Uganda started strongly in the first two rounds, sneaking his left hand from the southpaw between the Carrington guard and landing effectively to the body. . Carrington took that cue in the third and fourth rounds, targeting Segawa’s body with right hand counters.
Segawa, 33, picked up the pace in the fifth round and mixed in his right hook to keep Carrington in the corner and off the line for Carrington’s counter punches.
The two clashed heads in the seventh round, resulting in a headbutt that caused a hematoma high on Carrington’s head. The bump, although visible, did not impair Carrington’s vision. With the fight close after eight rounds, Carrington turned up the aggression in the final two rounds, outmaneuvering his opponent and securing the win.
After raising his hand, Carrington gave his opponent the respect he deserved.
“You’re a good fighter brother, definitely the best competitor I’ve had so far,” said Carrington, who entered the fight as the no. 1 by the WBA, no. 2 by the WBC and WBO, and no. 8 by the IBF at 126 pounds.
“It’s just going to take me to the next level. I just learned to deal with the off-tempo. I have some things I need to work on back in the gym. We need to get back on track and have more dominant performances. But as long as we got the ‘W’ at the end of the day, we’re still good.”
CompuBox stats showed Segawa landing and outworking Carrington overall, landing 108 of 416 total punches compared to the 91 landed from 358 attempts by Segawa.
Segawa entered the fight with his biggest win to date, having defeated WBC no. 1 ranked featherweight Ruben Villa, who won a unanimous decision.
In earlier action, Vito Mielnicki (20-1, 12 KOs) won his second straight fight since signing with Top Rank, defeating Italian Khalil El Harraz (16-6-1, 2 KOs) by majority decision in a ten- round junior middleweight fight to defeat . One judge had the fight even at 95-95, while the other two had it 100-90 and 98-92 in favor of New Jersey native Mielnicki.
Elvis Rodriguez (17-1-1, 13 KOs) scored a unanimous decision over Kendo Castaneda (21-7, 9 KOs) by scores of 100-90 on two cards and 99-91 on the third.
Delante “Tiger” Johnson (14-0, 6 KOs) scored an eight-round unanimous decision over his most experienced opponent as a pro, Yomar Alamo (22-3-1, 13 KOs) by scores of 78- Beating 74 on two cards and 77-75 on the third. Johnson, 26, of Cleveland, Ohio was a 2020 U.S. Olympian.
