By: Sean Crose
Boxing returned to the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut Saturday night, courtesy of Showtime and Premiere Boxing Champions. The opening bout in the three bout card featured a scheduled two round super lightweight affair between Malik Hawkins – 15-0 – and the 15-1 Subriel Matias.
The first two rounds weren’t entirely one sided, but Hawkins had the look of a man well in control of his gifts. He showed that he knew when to move and when to stay in the pocket. Matias, however, was very much in the fight.
Matias looked quite effective in the third, as he pursued and struck Hawkins essentially at will. Both men traded leather in the fourth, but Matias looked to get the better of it. The fifth continued to see Matias hunt Hawkins, often with his hands at his sides. Hawkins himself was breathing quite heavily in between rounds.
In the sixth, Hawkins went down. He got up and fought with determination, but did not appear to be his best at all. The ring doctor took at look at Hawkins, whose right eye had taken some damage, at the beginning of the seventh, and subsequently stopped the fight.