Mason defeats Bell in a dramatic fight, retains WBO title

Abdullah Mason (21-0, 18 KOs) stopped late substitute Albert Bell (28-1, 9 KOs) in a dramatic fight on July 4 in Cleveland and defended his WBO World lightweight title.  

Bell was a late replacement for Joe Cordina, who was denied a visa to the United States after being charged with assault June 25.

He started fight strongly and was in control in first half of the fight. But Mason, fighting in front of his hometown fans, recovered late and finished strongly. He dropped Bell twice in round 12 and referee Mark Nelson immediately stopped the fight after second knockdown.

Mason was ahead on points (106:103, 107:102, 107:102) entering round 12th.

"We had a game plan," Mason said during the postfight interview. "I was kind of shy to go upstairs for most of the fight. My brothers was telling me, 'Go to that body.' I wanted to get him out of there to the body, but they had told me late that I was down on the cards when I wasn't.

"And I just went upstairs, and that's how we got him out of there."

Bell suffered the first loss of his career. He admitted the first knockdown hurt him but said he wanted the chance to finish the fight.

"The stoppage at the end, he buzzed me with the first one," said Bell, a friend and former sparring partner of Mason. "The second one was just more of an aftereffect. I felt like it was too fast. Let me finish. It's the 12th round. It was a hard fight. Let me go on my shield if that's the case."