Johnson dominates Metcalf to go undisputed, Cameron wins, more results

Cherneka Johnson is the undisputed bantamweight champion, Chantelle Cameron won again, and more from the early Taylor vs Serrano 3 undercard.

Cherneka Johnson is the new undisputed bantamweight champion of the world, dominating Shurretta Metcalf to bring all four major titles together tonight at Madison Square Garden.

Johnson (18-2, 8 KO) got the TKO victory two seconds into the ninth round, when referee Charlie Fitch called time and stopped what had been a one-sided fight, though much to the chagrin of Metcalf (14-5-1, 2 KO), who was being dominated but really was still trying to win the fight, and didn’t seem particularly out of sorts or anything.

That said, the 30-year-old Johnson had won every round of the fight, and there didn’t seem to be any realistic path for Metcalf, 40, to pull a shocking late rally. Johnson was younger, faster, clearly the physically stronger of the two when they’d get into it on the inside, and just the better fighter on the night.

Johnson retained her WBA title, took the IBF belt from Metcalf, and also won the vacant WBC and WBO belts, which were previously held by Dina Thorslund. Thorslund was meant to face Metcalf tonight, but withdrew late due to being pregnant.

More from the prelims

• Chantelle Cameron retained her interim WBC super lightweight title with a wide and clear unanimous decision win over Jessica Camara, a predictable outcome. Cameron (21-1, 8 KO) took the fight on scores of 98-92, 99-91, and 99-91. As tough and game as Camara (14-5-1, 3 KO) was, once Cameron really got going in the middle rounds, it became a really one-sided fight.
• Ramla Ali scored what will be a controversial unanimous decision win over Lila Furtado, taking scores of 77-75, 77-75, and 78-74 over eight rounds. Ali (10-2, 2 KO) did land some good shots and it was a well-matched fight, but Furtado (11-3, 2 KO) is going to feel like she got jobbed here, and a lot of people are going to agree with her.
• Canadian amateur standout Tamm Thibeault won easily over Mary Casamassa, earning a fifth round stoppage when the referee Charlie Fitch had seen enough of the mismatch with Thibeault (3-0, 2 KO) landing clean shots on Casamassa (6-1, 1 KO) against the ropes. To say this was too big a step up for Casamassa would be quite an understatement, it was not competitive at all. Thibeault, 28, could very possibly win a world title as soon as she wants to try, middleweight does not have much depth or a lot of high-level talent at the moment. The fight had three-minute rounds, and Thibeault did score a knockdown at about 2:30 of the opening round, or about 30 seconds after a women’s boxing round would normally have ended.