Curtis Stevens didn't have his best night against Tureano Johnson, but did score a dramatic final minute TKO win last night in Philadelphia, a pretty heavily criticized stoppage by referee Gary Rosato that has led Johnson and promoter Gary Shaw to call for a rematch.
Stevens (27-4, 20 KO) admits that he wasn't at his best, and figures he was indeed losing on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage.
"I believe I was down. Instead of me going in there and just letting my hands go -- I'm not going to say I was overthinking, but I believe I was looking for the knockout too much. I knew he was coming wide, I let him smother me on the ropes, and I just didn't let my hands go the way I was supposed to," Stevens said.
A win is a win, though, and Stevens did get the job done, though he didn't sound entirely pleased with even that aspect either. "My power is devastating. Whether it was the first, second, third, fourth, last round, I took him out. Even though I didn't take him out impressively, I got the knockout," he said.