Shurretta Metcalf (left) stares down IBF bantamweight titleholder Miyo Yoshida ahead of the theoretical rematch on October 23 in New York. Photo credit: Ed Diller, DiBella Entertainment
Shurretta Metcalf proved she still has Miyo Yoshida’s number on Wednesday night, winning a unanimous decision at The Theater at Madison Square Garden to lift the IBF bantamweight title.
All three judges had the fight in favor of the 39-year-old from Dallas, Texas, with scores of 99-91, 96-94 and 97-93.
Unlike in their first fight last November, where Metcalf outboxed Yoshida easily, also in New York City, this fight was a give and take affair with both feeling they did enough to win at the final bell. In the end, it was the steady jab and counter punch of the taller Metcalf (14-4-1, 2 knockouts) that the judges preferred, earning her her first world title.
Yoshida (17-5), a New York native originally from Kagoshima, Japan, sees her third world title come to an end in her first defense.
“Man, I’ve been waiting years to hear this,” said an overwhelmed Metcalf, who turns 40 next Monday.
“This is definitely my birthday present. This is my gift to my city of Dallas.”
Metcalf seemed to carry over a lot of confidence from their first match as she jabbed from long range and landed overhand rights as Yoshida pressed forward. Despite their four-inch height difference, the 5’3″ 1/2″ Yoshida landed the best with her counter punches, as Metcalf had a habit of keeping her head on the midline and pulling her chin up whenever she jabbed .
A pattern began to emerge in which Metcalf would start the rounds strong and Yoshida would finish them stronger, usually due to her overhand rights.
Metcalf turned up the heat in the eighth and ninth rounds, trying to prevent a late lap rally from the reigning champion. Yoshida landed her best blow of the fight with just ten seconds left in the fight as a pair of right hands appeared to hurt Metcalf and push her into the ropes.
“I knew the first fight I moved a lot and that’s how I fought her, I didn’t put that much power. This time I wanted to sit on my fists. I wanted her to feel me this time, I wanted to come and make a statement,” Metcalf said.
The fight was just one of two women’s bantamweight title fights scheduled for this week, as Dina Thorslund will defend her WBC/WBO titles against Terumi Nuki this Friday in Denmark.
When asked who she would like to fight next, Metcalf admitted that a third fight with Yoshida could possibly be in the cards if the money is there for it.
The fight led to a DiBella Entertainment card that aired live on ProBox TV.
Mykquan Williams KOs Lavis Williams in 8
Mykquan Williams (22-0-2, 11 KOs) made the most of his ProBox exposure, knocking out Lavisas Williams (10-2-1, 3 KOs) midway through the eighth and final round of their junior welterweight bout.
Mykquan Williams, 26, of East Hartford, Conn. dominated throughout, scoring two takedowns in the opening round before finishing Lavisas Williams with a short right hand at the 1:32 mark, with referee Harvey Dock ruling the fight scoreless blew off
Mykquan Williams looked the sharper of the two from the outset and right hand at will against the 33-year-old from Rochester, NY Mykquan Williams landed the first takedown shortly before the end of the round as a straight right hand followed by an awkward looping right hand landed on the sleeper and put Lavisas Williams down. Mykquan Williams dropped his opponent again with a right hand just a second before the bell put him down again.
The victory continued the momentum for Mykquan Williams, who has now won three in a row since his majority draw against Paulo Cesar Galdino in June 2023. Lavisas Williams lost for the first time since his 2016 stoppage against O’Shaquie Foster, but fought for just the third time in eight years.
Mykquan Williams, rated a top-15 140-pounder by the WBO and WBA, declined to name any future opponents, instead deferring to his promoter Lou DiBella.
“Hey Lou, set them up. I’ll leave it up to my team and my promoter,” Williams said.
Other results
Jerry Forrest (28-6-2, 20 KOs) won an eight-round unanimous decision over Earl Newman (10-4-1, 7 KOs) by scores of 78-74 on two cards and 79-73 on the third. The loss is Newman’s fourth in a row, while the win is Forrest’s second in a row following losses to Kubrat Pulev and Jared Anderson in 2022.
Konrad Kaczmarkiewicz (8-1-1, 3 KOs) of Szczecin, Poland defeated Khainell Wheeler (7-6, 6 KOs) by split decision, with two judges seeing it his way, 59-55, and a third that it 58- 56 for the Pennsylvania-based Wheeler. Kaczmarkiewicz, fighting in New York for the second straight time, hurt Wheeler in the second round with a right-left hook combination, but found himself bleeding heavily from the nose from an uppercut in the sixth and final round.
Edward Vazquez (17-2, 4 KOs) of Fort Worth, Texas picked up his second straight win after Kenneth Taylor (14-4-2, 6 KOs) refused to advance to the fourth round of their ten round scheduled junior lightweight bout. Vazquez, 29, looked set to step back onto the world stage after coming up just short of winning a world title last November, when he lost a majority decision to then-IBF junior lightweight titleholder Joe Cordina.
