Lopez vs Nakatani prelim results: Dusty Harrison wins in homecoming bout

The prelims are over, and everyone who was supposed to win did.By Scott Christ @scblh1

Dusty Harrison’s boxing comeback continued tonight, as he stopped Juan De Angel in the seventh round of a one-sided fight in Oxon Hill, Maryland, near Harrison’s hometown of Washington, DC.

Harrison, fighting near home, obviously had a good deal of fans in the building, and was credited on the broadcast for selling a good amount of the tickets for the show. The 25-year-old prospect had a rough couple of years in and out of the ring, and didn’t fight between Sept. 2016 and March of this year, having finally gotten out of his deal with Roc Nation Sports and signing with Canada’s Lee Baxter Promotions.

Harrison (33-0-1, 19 KO) looked like he wanted to get some rounds in this evening, which makes sense given his first two fights back ended in the first and fourth rounds. This one went into the seventh, when De Angel (21-12-1, 19 KO) finally went down. He did get up, but spit out his mouthpiece to indicate he was done, and the referee stopped it.

De Angel, who came in five pounds heavy yesterday, is now 0-10 outside of his native Colombia, meaning he has a very Colombian record.

“I did OK. There’s a better rhythm I can get into,” Harrison said, crediting De Angel’s power for keeping him honest. “Every time I hit him with a clean body shot, it slowed him down a lot. I knew the body was the way to go.”

Asked about his plans now that he’s back in the ring and active, Harrison said, “Mentally, I’m in the best place I’ve ever been. I plan on surpassing everything I ever did before in my career and taking it further this time.”

Rolando Vargas TKO-2 Nathaniel Davis

A swing fight that made air. Vargas (3-0, 3 KO) stays perfect, a 19-year-old Mexican prospect based in Wisconsin, looks like he’ll settle in at 135 to start his career. He showed some real offensive skills here, but obviously it was a low-level fight and all that. Davis (1-1, 1 KO) was competitive in the first round, but the second was all Vargas until the referee stepped in. Davis is 29 and just burned pro in June, while Vargas had the big experience edge, having turned pro back in the ancient days of Dec. 2018

Cassius Chaney TKO-1 Joel Caudle

Chaney is a heavyweight prospect signed to Main Events, now 16-0 (10 KO), but he is already 32 years old. He’s 6’6” so he’s got the size, but time is probably ticking already. There wasn’t a lot here, but what there was was pretty remarkable. Chaney drilled Caudle (8-3-2, 5 KO) with a series of shots, sending him tumbling out of the ring head-first:

You don’t see that often. Caudle, to his credit, got up and came back into the ring to fight, but after a couple more shots the referee stopped it, which was wise. He was clearly overmatched and you really couldn’t be sure in the moment if this dude wasn’t concussed or something, how much fire you’re playing with if you let it continue.

Tyler Howard UD-8 Jamaal Davis

Howard, 25, is a middleweight from Tennessee who has built up a record on the podunk circuits. With this win over Philly journeyman Davis (18-15-1, 7 KO), he improves to 18-0 (11 KO), but it’s a really empty 18-0, and there didn’t appear to be a whole lot to his game in this fight. He won on scores of 78-73, 80-72, and 80-72, but I wouldn’t rush to put this dude on your 160 radar, either. He does have the build and he wasn’t afraid to let his hands go, though — someone in the live thread mentioned Mason Menard, and he might indeed be a bigger version of that, which is not the worst thing to be. Or maybe he’ll prove me wrong and be better, time will tell.

Tyler McCreary SD-8 Jessie Cris Rosales

McCreary, 26, is an Ohio fighter, featherweight/super featherweight normally, fought lightweight for this one. In his last fight in March, he went to a really disappointing draw with Roberto Castaneda, a journeyman type. This time, he escapes with a split decision win over Jessie Cris Rosales, who isn’t a bad fighter but was last seen getting demolished in four by Shakur Stevenson in January. Needless to say, McCreary (16-0-1, 7 KO) is no Shakur Stevenson.

But this was a solidly entertaining fight and a good little test for McCreary — coming off a poor showing, if he couldn’t handle Rosales (22-3-1, 10 KO), it was really time to rethink things. But he gets out with a narrow win. I think he probably loses well before he reaches real contention, but it’s hardly required of fighters to reach real contention anymore in order to, like, get a title shot. Top Rank just had Jason Sanchez fight for a world title.

Esquiva Falcao TKO-8 Jesus Antonio Gutierrez

Falcao won silver at London 2012 and has been a pro since early 2014, but he’s really done nothing in five-and-a-half years, being honest. He’s 24-0 (16 KO) now, but he and brother Yamaguchi, who is a bit older, have both shown little serious ambition in the pro game. Yamaguchi got upset by Chris Pearson earlier this year, but Esquiva continues winning with this one, which was no real trouble for him. Gutierrez (25-4-2, 12 KO) was dropped in the eighth and pretty much done there, but he still complained a bit when the ref stepped in while Falcao fired away moments later. It was the right stoppage, though.

The broadcast pushed that Falcao wants fights with Ryota Murata or Billy Joe Saunders — if so, then that’s good. If he instead faces more guys like this going forward, he’ll continue to be all but irrelevant. Look, this isn’t a 20-year-old prospect we’re talking about. He’s an Olympic silver medalist and turning 30 in December. Watching him at this level has long since grown tiresome.