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David Stevens stopped Sean Hemphill in the final seconds of a scheduled eight-round fight between 168-pound prospects on Friday night in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
The official time for the stop was 2:58.<\/p>\n
Stevens (12-0, 9 KOs) and Hemphill (14-1, 8 KOs) engaged in a fierce back-and-forth battle that seemed to be airborne as the action was about to end .<\/p>\n
CompuBox stats supported that notion, as Hemphill had a 90-79 advantage in total punches landed.<\/p>\n
However, the judges apparently believed Stevens hit a cleaner shot, and after seven rounds all three led Stevens 68-65 (rounds five to two).<\/p>\n
In the end it didn’t matter. In the final seconds, Hemphill had his back in the corner, was injured in a left-right combination, and then collapsed under a storm of follow-up shots.<\/p>\n
He was able to get back up, but fell again under another barrage, causing the referee to stop the fight with just two seconds remaining.<\/p>\n
Stephens, 22, from nearby Reading, has taken an important step towards becoming a legitimate contender. He now has three consecutive knockouts.<\/p>\n
Hemphill, 27, from New Orleans needs to regroup.<\/p>\n
In the co-feature, light heavyweight prospects Philadelphia’s Atif Oberlton (8-0, 6 KOs) defeated Russia’s Artem Brusov (12-1, 11 KOs) by unanimous decision in an eight-round bout. I was.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n