D’Mitrius Ballard and Elias Espadas fight to no-contest

Middleweights D’Mitrius Ballard and Elias Espadas fought to a no-contest in tonight’s Golden Boy Fight Night main event from Atlantic City, with the fight stopped in the third round due to a cut on Espadas caused by an accidental headbutt.

Ballard (20-0, 13 KO) and Espadas (18-4, 13 KO) were getting into some decent action, but Espadas was bleeding badly by the second round, although the cut did not seem to be sending blood into his eye. Still, the fight was halted, a no-contest declared, and nothing much was solved or learned.

Jeff Fusco-Hoganphotos/Golden Boy

Eddie Gomez, a former welterweight prospect who took a few losses, made it three straight wins with a second round wipeout of journeyman Saul Corral.

Gomez (23-3, 13 KO) dropped Corral (30-14, 20 KO) four times, doing good work to the body and head. Gomez is still 26, so there’s time for him to turn his career around, and he says he’s got extra motivation these days.

“My last two fights got me excited about boxing again,” Gomez said after the fight, mentioning his father who passed away. “Everything I do now is for my family. This is not only me in here. This is me and my dad. I feel like my bad luck charms are all up. It’s only up from here. Anybody I fight is gonna have problems, I don’t care who it is.”

Gomez also called out Rashidi Ellis, who knocked him out in one round back in Dec. 2016, for a rematch.

Jeff Fusco-Hoganphotos/Golden Boy

WBC super middleweight titleholder Franchon Crews-Dezurn stayed busy with her first fight under a new deal with Golden Boy, beating Kayla Williams via fifth round TKO.

Crews-Dezurn (5-1, 2 KO) made her pro debut back in Nov. 2016 against Claressa Shields, who was also debuting in the pros. Shields beat her, but Crews-Dezurn hasn’t lost since, and has started to make her own name for herself. She’s charismatic, colorful, and does a good job keeping her name out there. 168 is really shallow for women’s boxing, but it is what it is for now. Williams falls to 0-3-1, but gave her best effort on very short notice.

Other results

Jeff Fusco-Hoganphotos/Golden Boy

• Gabriel Pham UD-6 Jaba Khositashvili (59-54, 59-54, 60-53)
• Mike Reed UD-8 Angel Hernandez (78-74, 79-73, 79-73)
• George Rincon KO-4 Greg Young Jr (2:01)
• Dan Murray UD-4 Leonardo Kenon (39-37, 40-36, 40-36)