Glanton vs Light results: David Light wins split decision over Brandon Glanton

David Light won a split decision over Brandon Glanton tonight in Florida, possibly taking a final step toward a WBO cruiserweight title fight in 2023.

Light (20-0, 12 KO) won on two cards of 95-94 and 97-92 going his way, with the other going 95-94 to Glanton (17-1, 14 KO). Bad Left Hook unofficially scored the fight 95-94 Glanton, with the difference coming on a 10th round knockdown against Light. It was a questionable knockdown, too, but Light didn’t argue with it — he’d been hurt on a body shot and perhaps lost his balance trying to throw back.

The fight was fairly tough to score, with a lot of grappling and clinching in close. Glanton and Light also traded some good shots, so it wasn’t downright boring, and both men also showed real toughness. Light took some great uppercuts from Glanton as they battled in the trenches, and came back with some good shots of his own when he got a bit of separation now and then.

Both fighters showed some really good sportsmanship after, particularly Glanton, who said he didn’t really understand the scoring, but congratulated Light and even stopped a member of his corner from getting angrier on the live mic.

The win gives Light, 31, a couple of minor belts with the WBO that hopefully he didn’t have to pay double sanctioning fees on, but more importantly it gives him a good argument in the WBO rankings. Lawrence Okolie holds the WBO cruiserweight title, and might even consider fighting again next year, having been out of the ring since a February win over Michal Cieslak. It’s not exactly a division boasting incredible star power, and Light has shown a willingness to go on the road.

Undercard results

• Marques Valle DQ-2 Midayel Sanchez: Valle (7-0, 6 KO) had hurt Sanchez (9-4, 6 KO) a time or two already, and the referee’s DQ call was very weird, you just don’t see it happen this way. Personally, I can’t spend much energy on this; real sad for Valle that he loses his perfect KO percentage, I guess, but otherwise this was going the way it was going.
• Mohamed Soumaoro UD- Jusiyah Shirley: Shirley was one of the better-looking prospects of ProBox’s “FUTURESTARS!” which is not to say he was a blue chipper or anything. He got found out here, as Soumaoro (12-1, 5 KO) was just way too much for him. It was clear quickly that Soumaoro, a 29-year-old born in Guinea, living in Canada, had a real plan and real ideas, he was going to bring pressure and see how Shirley (7-1 6 KO) reacted. The answer was “not terribly well.” Scores were 58-56, 59-55, and 60-54, all completely fair. You could give Shirley, 21, two rounds, but no more, and you could also give him none. It’s a learning experience; Shirley has been active, he’s been taking little steps forward, and here he just ran into real problems against a legit prospect checker. We’ll see how Shirley bounces back in 2023; one thing you can say, he was frustrated but didn’t give up. He tried to win this fight with his back against the wall, it just didn’t happen. And he knew he lost, and his team didn’t lie to him about it. Soumaoro either booked himself more prospect checker gigs or less, depending on how matchmakers feel about what they saw, but ProBox should definitely bring him back if nothing else, even in more of a 50-50 matchup with someone. He’s fun to watch.
• Kelvin Davis TKO-3 Jalen Hill: Davis, the 26-year-old older brother of Keyshawn and Keon, is still signed with Top Rank, but got a fight in here, which is fair. Top Rank only have one card left this year and only so many undercard slots, I guess. Also, well, he’s not exactly a blue chip guy, being honest. He’s now 7-0 (5 KO) after a win over Hill (5-1, 4 KO), who had five West Virginia fights coming in, and it showed. Davis may be seen as a mid-tier prospect, but he was three levels above Ohio’s Hill, who was clearly discouraged pretty quickly. Hill claimed a hand injury in the third to give up the ghost. Without going into the language used that he may not have wanted anyone else to hear, Davis’ trainer Brian McIntyre did not seem to buy it.