Shurretta Metcalf scores another decision win over Miyo Yoshida, lifts IBF bantamweight title in NYC

Shurretta Metcalf proved Wednesday night that she still has Miyo Yoshida’s number, winning a unanimous decision at The Theater at Madison Square Garden to lift the IBF bantamweight title.

All three judges had the fight in favor of the 39-year-old from Dallas, Texas by the scores of 99-91, 96-94 and 97-93.

Unlike in their first bout last November, where Metcalf easily outboxed Yoshida, also in New York City, this fight was a give-and-take affair with both feeling they had done enough to win at the final bell. In the end, it was the consistent jab and counterpunching of the taller Metcalf (14-4-1, 2 knockouts) that the judges preferred, earning her her first world title.

Yoshida (17-5), a New York resident who is originally from Kagoshima, Japan, sees her third world title reign end in her first defense.

“Man I’ve been waiting to hear that for years,” said an overwhelmed Metcalf, who turns 40 next Monday.

“This is definitely my birthday gift. This is my gift to my city Dallas.”

Metcalf appeared to carry over plenty of confidence from their first bout as she jabbed from distance and landed overhand rights as Yoshida pressed forward. Despite their four-inch height disparity, the 5’3″ 1/2 Yoshida landed best with her counter jabs, as Metcalf had a habit of keeping her head on the center line and pulling her chin up whenever she jabbed.

A pattern began to appear wherein Metcalf would start the rounds strongly and Yoshida would finish them stronger, usually due to her overhand rights.

Metcalf turned up the heat in the eighth and ninth rounds, trying to prevent a late round rally from the incumbent champion. Yoshida landed her best punch of the fight with just ten seconds left in the fight, as a pair of right hands seemed to hurt Metcalf and push her into the ropes.

“I knew the first fight I moved a lot and that’s how I was fighting her, I wasn’t putting that much power. This time I wanted to sit down on my punches. I wanted her to feel me this time, I wanted to come and make a statement,” said Metcalf.

The fight was just one of two women’s bantamweight title fights set for this week, as Dina Thorslund is set to defend her WBC/WBO titles this Friday in Denmark against Terumi Nuki.

Asked whom she would want to fight next, Metcalf acknowledged that a third fight with Yoshida could potentially be in the cards if the money was there for it.

The fight headlined a DiBella Entertainment card which aired live on ProBox TV.

Mykquan Williams KOs Lavisas Williams in 8

Mykquan Williams (22-0-2, 11 KOs) made the most of his ProBox exposure, knocking out Lavisas Williams (10-2-1, 3 KOs) midway through the eighth and final round of their junior welterweight bout.

Mykquan Williams, 26, of East Hartford, Conn. dominated throughout, scoring two knockdowns in the opening round before finishing Lavisas Williams with a short right hand at the 1:32 mark, with referee Harvey Dock waving off the fight without a count.

From the outset, Mykquan Williams appeared the sharper of the two, landing right hands at will against the 33-year-old from Rochester, N.Y. Mykquan Williams scored the first knockdown shortly before the end of the round as a straight right hand followed by an awkward looping right hand landed on the temple, putting Lavisas Williams down. Mykquan Williams dropped his opponent once more as a right hand just a second before the bell put him down once again.

The win continued the momentum for Mykquan Williams, who has now won three straight since his majority draw against Paulo Cesar Galdino in June of 2023. Lavisas Williams loses for the first time since his 2016 stoppage to O’Shaquie Foster, but was fighting for just the third time in eight year.

Mykquan Williams, who is rated in the top 15 by the WBO and WBA at 140 pounds, declined to call out any future opponents, deferring instead to his promoter Lou DiBella.

“Hey Lou, set them up. I’ll leave that up to my team and my promoter,” said Williams.

Other results

Jerry Forrest (28-6-2, 20 KOs) won an eight round unanimous decision over Earl Newman (10-4-1, 7 KOs) by the scores of 78-74 on two cards and 79-73 on the third. The loss is the fourth in a row for Newman while the win is the second straight for Forrest following his losses to Kubrat Pulev and Jared Anderson in 2022.

Konrad Kaczmarkiewicz (8-1-1, 3 KOs) of Szczecin, Poland defeated Khainell Wheeler (7-6, 6 KOs) by split decision, with two judges seeing it his way, 59-55, and a third having it 58-56 for the Pennsylvania based Wheeler. Kaczmarkiewicz, who was fighting for the second straight time in New York, hurt Wheeler in the second round with a right hand-left hook combo, but found himself bleeding heavily from the nose due to an uppercut in the sixth and final round.

Edward Vazquez (17-2, 4 KOs) of Fort Worth, Texas scored his second straight win after Kenneth Taylor (14-4-2, 6 KOs) declined to proceed after the fourth round of their ten round scheduled junior lightweight bout. Vazquez, 29, appeared ready to step back up to the world stage after coming just short of winning a world title last November, when he lost a majority decision to then IBF junior lightweight titleholder Joe Cordina.

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