Shakur Stevenson gets ninth-round TKO over Josh Padley, but it was not the kind of performance that won many fans over

Shakur Stevenson's talent was evident throughout his lightweight title bout with late replacement Josh Padley. We saw the blazing hand speed and the underrated power. We saw the exceptional vision and the great fight IQ.

What we didn't get for the most part was a hugely entertaining bout. Stevenson dropped Padley, who was installing solar panels in Scotland on Tuesday when he got the emergency call to replace the ill Floyd Schofield, three times in the ninth round. 

Stevenson got the victory at 3:00 of the ninth when Padley's corner threw in the towel after the third knockdown, but it wasn't really a win. The 'W' went into the win column, but he likely didn't win the hearts and minds of too many outside of his friends and family who were watching.

It wasn't the kind of performance that made anyone excited, and when ring announcer Thomas Treiber gave the result, the crowd at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, booed lustily.

Stevenson entered as a -4000 favorite and he had little difficulty for the most part, the gulf in talent between them was vast. Stevenson was coming off a layoff after he had right hand surgery, and appeared to injure his left midway through the fight. For several rounds, Stevenson largely abandoned the left, his power hand, and was picking Padley apart with his jab.

In the ninth, Stevenson resumed using the left as a weapon. He assaulted the body and dropped Padley three times with vicious digs to the midsection. Twice after the knockdowns, Padley was on his hands and knees and pounded his fist on the mat. He probably could have gone on, but he was far behind on the cards and it was obvious he couldn't win, so the corner did the smart and merciful thing by throwing in the towel as the bell rang to end the ninth.

Stevenson scored his first stoppage since April 8, 2023, when he got Shuichiro Yoshino out of there in six rounds, but it's not likely he won himself fans at home. Social media was filled with posts roasting him.

With the gap in talent so vast and Padley's team admitting he had been doing Crossfit but not boxing training when he got the call, it made sense to expect Stevenson to take it to Padley aggressively. But while he was winning by a wide margin, it wasn't entertaining and he didn't blow out a guy he was multiple levels ahead of in terms of talent, conditioning and fight smarts.