Oshae Jones isn’t likely to get complacent in the ring anytime soon – not after just squeezing out a split decision win over Elia Carranza in her first junior middleweight title defense Friday at The Tabernacle in Atlanta.
Although the fight was arguably somewhat difficult to score, the two judges’ scorecards in favor of Jones – 98-92 and 96-94 – were at least plausible. Edward Kanner’s 100-90 score for Carranza was, on the other hand, utterly inexplicable – and nearly cost Jones the win.
It was another tooth-and-nail battle for Jones, who captured the belt last November with a similarly fraught split decision over Belgium’s Femke Hermans. On Friday, Jones – a 27-year-old from Toledo, Ohio, who is now training in New Jersey – was up against a less-heralded opponent in Carranza, a 34-year-old police officer in her native Miami. Yet the outcome was no less murky at the end.
“I felt like the fight was closer than normal,” Jones admitted in the ring in a postfight interview on streamer DAZN. “But I don’t know. … I know that [performance] wasn’t my best, but I thought it was a good fight, though.”
Jones, a bronze medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Games, showed her class early against Carranza – even if she was ever-so-slightly tentative. Jones generally commanded the ring in the early going, while Carranza, despite showing she belonged, did little to clearly distinguish herself.
In the fourth, Jones started to come on, flashing a double jab that set up a head-rattling power shot. In the sixth, Carranza gave a good account of herself, slipping a Jones punch and countering to plant a left hand upstairs.
Jones picked up her pace a bit in the seventh, but Carranza matched her. Swarming Carranza along the ropes and landing a banging left hand at the bell may have been enough to allow Jones to steal the round.
The fighters traded thudding body shots in the eighth, as Carranza took the initiative. But Jones appeared comfortable fighting off the back foot, countering deftly and preventing Carranza from taking clear advantage just by pressing forward. In the ninth, Jones shifted into stick-and-move mode, pumping hard counter shots when Carranza would swing and miss.
Jones seemed to set herself apart in the 10th and final round, throwing sophisticated combinations as part of a varied offensive attack, at one point following several hard jabs with a convincing jab fake that set up a cracking left hand.
Carranza, who fell to 11-2 (3 KOs), put on a credible, professional performance in a loss to a former Olympian now in her professional prime – which should serve her well in making future significant fights.
Meanwhile, Jones, 9-0 (3 KOs), has been eager to fight the best at 154lbs, calling out the other belt holders in the division. She gave it a shot again after Friday’s fight.
“I need to talk to my team, but I’m really trying to be undisputed at 154,” Jones said. “I’m trying to get the WBA [titleholder], Mary Spencer, and get the WBC and WBO [titleholder] Ema Kozin. … If not, I may have to move down to 147 to get that smoke.”
On the undercard, Haven Brady Jnr overcame one of the dirtier performances a fight fan will witness from DeMichael Harris to win a unanimous decision over 10 rounds of their junior lightweight bout.
Judges’ scores were 100-89 for Brady across the board.
If Harris, 28, believed he knew something others didn’t about the 23-year-old Brady – a frequent sparring partner – it was a tactical blunder. Harris tossed away a significant height and length advantage from the opening bell, smothering his punches in exchange for leading with his head and shoulder, pressing his forearm into Brady’s neck and firing occasional low blows for good measure.
Brady, a 23-year-old from Albany, Georgia, responded with quicker hands, great footwork and accurate volume punching. In the 10th, Brady poured it on in an effort to stop Harris but fell just short after emptying the tank with an assault punctuated by a clean double-left-hook combination.
Brady was brilliant in advancing to 16-0 (6 KOs) and dispatching a powerful and potentially dangerous opponent in the Cleveland-born, Georgia-trained Harris, who fell to 12-1-1 (11 KOs).
Super middleweight Nathan Lugo extended his string of knockout wins to start his pro career with a first-round KO of Rashad McWilliams.
Lugo, a 21-year-old who is originally from Orlando, Florida, and now fighting out of Marietta, Georgia, pressured McWilliams immediately, ripping a pair of heavy left hooks to the body. Lugo then slipped a McWilliams right hand and plowed his opponent to the canvas with a well-placed right of his own – again to the body.
McWilliams, 4-1 (3 KOs), showed no interest in carrying on and took on his first pro loss. The time of stoppage was 2 minutes, 39 seconds of the first.
Lugo climbed to 5-0 (5 KOs).
Desmond Lyons handled a tough, come-forward opponent in Julio Gomez to earn the unanimous decision in a six-round junior lightweight clash.
With his back against the ropes in the third round, Lyons sent Gomez to the canvas with a left hook that seemed close to ending the fight. But Gomez, a Mexico-born 27-year-old now fighting out of Gainesville, Georgia, came back in the next round to bloody Lyons’ mouth.
But Lyons, also 27, from North Augusta, South Carolina, landed the sharper, cleaner punches down the stretch to sway the judges, who scored it 59-54 and 58-55 (twice).
Lyons improved to 10-3 (2 KOs), while Gomez fell to 7-3-2 (6 KOs).
Maximus Garland handed Morgan Griggie his first professional defeat in their six-round welterweight bout. Despite the length and reach advantage of 6ft welterweight Griggie – a 24-year-old southpaw fighting out of Fayetteville, Georgia – Garland controlled the fight with distance, timing and power to earn the unanimous decision. Scores were 59-55 and 58-56 (twice).
Garland, a 23-year-old resident of Capitol Heights, Maryland, moved to 9-0 (7 KOs). Griggie dropped to 8-1 (5 KOs).
Middleweight Elijah Lugo earned his first professional stoppage – and beat his older brother, Nathan, to the evening’s first knockout punch – by finishing Marquis Williams in the fifth of a scheduled six rounds.
The 18-year-old Lugo, 3-0 (1 KO), originally from Orlando, Florida, and now fighting out of Marietta, Georgia, dropped Williams with a hard right hand to the body in the first minute of the fifth. Moments later, Lugo clipped Williams, a 28-year-old southpaw from Houston, to send him to a knee again. Williams appeared calculated in taking referee Malik Waleed’s count but rose to his feet too late to avoid the stoppage.
The time was 1 minute, 47 seconds of the fifth, as Williams fell to 3-3 (2 KOs).
Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.
