Shadasia Green had to go deeper than ever before to preserve her unbeaten record and place in line for a title shot.
The top-rated super middleweight contender landed heavy leather versus Olivia Curry, who showed a world class chin throughout their ten-round contest. Curry’s stock went up in defeat, while Green left with a ten-round, unanimous decision win on the undercard of the Jake Paul-Nate Diaz headlined DAZN/ESPN+/PPV.com Pay-Per-View event Saturday from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
Judges David Iacobelli (99-91), David Sutherland (100-90) and Patrick Morley (100-89) all scored wide in favor of Green, who’d never previously fought past the sixth round.
The battle of college-educated contenders saw Curry entered as a massive underdog but lived up to her pre-fight promise of taking the fight directly to the heavy-handed Green. The Chicago-based boxer worked behind her jab and stood directly in front of Green, who used early movement to set up her power shots.
Green connected with a right hand in round two, which Curry took well and responded with a combination. The 33-year-old former high school and college basketball standout later responded with a left hook and right uppercut, the latter the more effective of the two. Curry let her hands go, not always landing enough to send a message that she wasn’t going to fold under pressure.
Green found her true power range by the end of round four, when she landed a pair of right hands. The unbeaten contender never looked back and had Curry staggered on a number of occasions through a power-punching display in round six.
Curry managed to remain upright long enough to force Green into the longest fight of her boxing lifetime. Green didn’t show any signs of slowing down as she continued to land uppercuts, straight rights and left hooks. Curry was unable to get out of harm’s way, to the chagrin of her corner who called for more movement.
The advice was absorbed but just not implemented by Curry, who instead relied on head movement to minimize the impact in round eight. Green was forced to be more selective with her power shots to not expend energy and relied more on her superior boxing skills to set up her power shots in a more dominant ninth round. A left hook and right hand snapped back Curry’s head but she somehow avoided the canvas.
More of the same spilled over into the tenth and final round. Curry still fought to win, while Green sought to extend her nine-fight knockout streak. Curry left with a moral victory in going the distance but left with her five-fight win streak brought to a halt as she fell to 7-2 (2KOs).
Green advanced to 13-0 (11KOs) and should be in line for a direct shot at the super middleweight championship. She is the WBC mandatory challenger to undisputed champion Savannah Marshall (13-1, 10KOs).
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox