Abdullah Mason needed twelve rounds and a spectacular finish to remind boxing why he was already considered the best prospect in the sport. The 22-year-old WBO lightweight champion stopped late replacement Albert Bell at 40 seconds of the final round in Cleveland, surviving a fight that looked much closer than his unbeaten record suggests.
The bout was never supposed to look like this on paper. Mason’s original opponent, Joe Cordina, was pulled from the card after being denied a US visa, and Bell stepped in on short notice for a shot at the title. He nearly made the champion pay for the disruption.
Six rounds of trouble before the turn
Bell used his height and a sharp right hand to control the opening six rounds at Wolstein Center, repeatedly beating Mason to the punch and denying him the range he prefers to fight at. It was the first sustained adversity of Mason’s career, and for a stretch it looked like the kind of night that separates a hyped prospect from a finished product.
The turn came in round seven, when Mason connected with a heavy left hand that reset the fight’s terms. He built on it in round eight, hurting Bell with clean shots to the head and body, then spent rounds nine through eleven wearing his challenger down with pressure. By the time the fighters walked out for round twelve, Mason held all three cards, 106-103 and 107-102 twice.
The stoppage, and the pushback
He didn’t need the scorecards. Forty seconds into the final round, a left hand rocked Bell into the ropes, a follow-up combination put him down, and a second knockdown moments later brought an immediate stoppage. Several boxing figures, including WBO welterweight titleholder Devin Haney, argued the fight was waved off too early given how competitive it had been. The result stands regardless: Mason improved to 22-0 with 19 knockouts, a knockout rate of roughly 86 percent that ranks among the highest of any current world titleholder.
It was the first defense of the belt Mason won as a teenager, and he remains boxing’s youngest reigning male world champion. The card also marked the debut of TNT’s new boxing series with DAZN, giving the network a dramatic first impression even if the finish will keep being argued over.
For a title fight that was reshuffled by a visa denial and nearly upended by a late replacement, Mason walked out with his belt, his zero, and a considerably more interesting resume than a routine voluntary defense would have given him. The next real test, against a name opponent on full training camp notice, will say more about where he actually stands in a stacked lightweight division. Track how title fights are scored round by round in our explainer on the sport’s 10-point must system, and follow more of the year’s biggest fights in Combat Sports.
