Isaiah Steen made a nice statement on a big stage Friday night.
The super middleweight prospect from Cleveland outboxed Kalvin Henderson to win a unanimous decision on ShoBox: The Next Generation’s 20th-anniversary show Friday in Grand Island, Neb.
The athletic Steen (16-0, 12 KOs) spent most of the fight moving about the ring, firing off his long jab and landing enough power shots to win rounds.
Henderson (14-1-1, 10 KOs) pursued Steen but the Arkansas fighter was unable to cut off the ring with any consistency and he didn’t throw enough punches to win the fight, although he had good moments periodically.
The judges scored it 97-93, 97-93 and 96-94 for Steen. Boxing Junkie also had 97-93 for the winner.
In other fights on the card, Janelson Figueroa Bocachica (17-0-1, 11 KOs) and Shinard Bunch (15-1-1, 13 KOs) fought to a controversial split draw in a 10-round welterweight fight.
Bunch seemed to outbox Bocachica and land more eye-catching blows but the judges saw something else. One had Bunch winning 97-93, a second had it 96-94 for Bocachica and the third scored it 95-95.
And Martino Jules (11-0, 2 KOs) defeated Aram Avagyan (10-1-2, 4 KOs) by a unanimous decision in an eight-round featherweight fight.