Davis Upsets Breland With KO in Ninth

Underdog Aaron Davis knocked Mark Breland down in the third round, then put him away with a short right in the ninth to take the World Boxing Assn. welterweight title Sunday.

Davis, whose vision was hampered by a badly swollen right eye during most of the fight, staggered Breland several times with his left hand but missed with his right until the final blow late in the ninth round.

“I was hurting him with the left hook, but each time I threw the right, it just sort of missed,” Davis said. “In the ninth, I just went boom-boom.”

Davis, 30-0 with 18 knockouts, said he was afraid the fight would be stopped because of his swollen eye. Ring doctor James McLennan examined the eye after each round but allowed the bout to continue.

“I just kept saying, ‘Please don’t stop the fight,’ ” Davis said. “I knew I could beat Mark.”

Breland, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist, was an 8-1 favorite to retain his title. He lay still in the ring for several minutes after the knockout and was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital for examination.

McLennan said he ordered Breland hospitalized as a precaution after the fighter received “a good concussion.”

Judge Patricia Jarman had Davis ahead, 77-74, going into the ninth, and judge Doug Tucker had him leading, 76-75. Judge Larry Rozadilla had it 77-74 for Breland, whose record is 27-2-1.

Davis said he would like to fight World Boxing Council champion Marlon Starling.

“I just can’t wait to fight again just as soon as this eye goes down,” he said. Davis wore dark glasses to a postfight news conference.

He said the eye began giving him problems in the first round after Breland caught him with a left jab, then hit him with an elbow. Davis said Breland continued the jab-elbow combination throughout the fight.

Breland seemed shaken by the first blow of the fight, a short left jab by Davis, and was knocked to the canvas in the closing moments of the third by another left-right combination.

“I hurt a lot of people with jabs,” Davis said.

Davis was stunned in the eighth by a Breland right but shook it off.

“I told him he’s got to come up with more than that because I don’t want to go back to New York a loser,” Davis said.

Davis, of the Bronx, had said he would win on a knockout.

Breland, of Brooklyn, had not predicted a knockout but said he was prepared if the fight went the full 12 rounds.