The decline continues for “Real World Kid.”

Unheralded junior middleweight Anthony Young scored the most significant victory of his career – by far – impressively halting former WBA titleholder Sadam Ali in three rounds at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The official times was 2:38.

Young, who hails from Atlantic City in New Jersey, flew out of the blocks and attacked with abandon from the opening bell. He paid the price, absorbing the odd nifty counter from Ali, but the underdog had committed himself to a game plan and he stuck with it.

Ali looked strangely subdued from the moment he entered the ring and was in against a fired up and ambitious opponent. After being hurt to the body in the third, the former titleholder backed off and offered very little resistance. Young sensed the moment and continued to fire until referee Robert Byrd had seen enough.

If anything the stoppage was a touch premature, but Ali didn’t complain and that tells its own story. After a shock win over Miguel Cotto to win the world title in December 2017, Ali’s career has gone south. A brutal fourth-round defeat to Mexican power-puncher Jaime Munguia was hard to take, and although Ali rebounded to outpoint Mauricio Herrera at the end of last year, tonight’s defeat could signal the end of his career at top level.

Young improves to 21-2 (8 knockouts) and Ali drops to 27-3 (14 KOs).

Tom Gray is the Associate Editor for The Ring and a member of The Ring ratings panel. Follow him on Twitter: @Tom_Gray_Boxing

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