This past Saturday at the Fitzgerald Casino in Tunica, Mississippi, Karim "Hard Hitta" Mayfield (15-0-1, 9 KO's) of San Francisco, CA remained undefeated with a dominating performance over experienced Venezuelan Patrick Lopez (20-5, 12 KO's) to capture the vacant Jr. Welterweight NABO title.
Mayfield impressed the crowd in attendance with his power punching style, knocking Lopez down three times, before the final bell rang to earn a well-deserved unanimous decision. The judges’ scorecards read 99-88, 97-90 and 98-90.
"I wanted to come out and prove to the fans that I'm one of the best fighters in the world," said Mayfield. "Lopez was tough, but I knew I had the ability to win this fight impressively. Now that I'm the NABO Jr. Welterweight champion, I can see myself fighting on a bigger stage against any of the top fighters in the division. My message to all the champions and top ten fighters at Jr. Welterweight is...let’s get it on."
Prize Fight president Brian Young, who promotes Mayfield, went on to say, "Karim's stock is elevating with every victory and I believe he has the skill and talent to become a world champion. You can add Karim Mayfield's name into the mix at Jr. Welterweight which is one of the best divisions in boxing right now. We are going to evaluate what fights can be made and work hard to get Karim in a big fight."
Other than a technical draw result which occurred in 2007 when his opponent was cut by an accidental head-butt in the second round, Mayfield’s record is flawless. His most impressive win came this past June when the Bay Area native defeated world title challenger Steve Forbes with a TKO in the tenth round.
A confident Mayfield will now hope that any of the current Jr. Welterweight world champions give him an opportunity. That list includes newly crowned WBC champion and Mexican legend Erik Morales, WBA and IBF titlist Amir Khan from Great Britain, whom many boxing insiders consider the best fighter in the division, and American Timothy Bradley who holds the WBO belt.
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