Ali Wins by TKO over Burton
(Below photos: Lori Steinhorst -
covering event in New York)

(NOV 12) Last night at the Madison Square Garden, in New York, with an audience of 14,260,  Laila "She Bee Stingin" Ali, 166.5, stopped Shelley Burton, 164, 1:58 seconds of the fourth round by TKO. WBAN was able to view the bout, and Ali seemed to have little trouble throughout the four rounds, until it was stopped by referee, Arthur Mercante Jr.  The fight was scheduled for 10 rounds, with Ali successfully defending her WBC and WIBA super middleweight titles.  Ali’s famous father, Muhammad Ali was ringside to see his daughter fight Burton. 

Lori Steinhorst who was covering the fight for WBAN said that Ali expressed disappointment in the early stoppage of Burton, but that she acknowledged the win in her usual fashion.  Steinhorst added, “Burton came in confident and in good form, but Ali was able to draw her into range and fire off good straight punishing punches for which Burton had little answer for.”

When Ali was asked what she thought Burton did right, she said, “She showed up to fight". When Ali was asked what she thought Burton did wrong, she answered, “She turned her back, she turned away from me, and the referee stopped the fight."  Ali added that, Burton had under-estimated her power, but that she was aware that she had broken her [Burton] nose, commenting, “That has happened before, it’s not the only nose I’ve broken.”

Burton said she thought the fight had been stopped prematurely.

Ljeoma Egbunine

Steinhorst said, “The post fight press conference was disrupted when a woman, unknown who she was or which news agency represented, began to loudly question the condition of Calvin Brock (Klitchko's opponent) and Ali's fight with Burton. As she became louder and more disruptive about Ali fighting Burton, instead of Ijeoma Egbunine, a successful attempt was made to have her removed.  “At this point, Ali recognized Egbunine and offered her an opportunity to tell her side of the story, however, by the time Egbunine could really establish the purpose of why she flew into New York, to confront Ali, the press conference was moved forward, and Klitchko took the floor to address the press, and Ali left the conference area”, added Steinhorst.
  
WBAN’s European Correspondent who viewed the fight on television said, “It seemed like the cat [Ali] playing with the mouse [Burton]  from round one until the end of the 4th round, when the referee stepped in to stop the fight after a barrage of punches made Burton turn away. Shelley Burton simply didn't have the ability to pose any threat to Laila Ali. It was evident, that Ali was in control right from the first bell. She let Burton punch away at her guard, but didn't let anything through. Ali threw very few punches until the end of the round, where she nailed Burton with 3-4 hard right hands. Ali started to use her left jab more in the following rounds, and she seemed to save her right till the end of the rounds, giving the impression that she didn't want to end the fight too soon.”

(Source: Lori Steinhorst, Torben L., New York Daily News)