By Jake Donovan

Ed “Bad Boy” Brown saw his knockout streak come to a close, but remains unbeaten following a six-round shutout of veteran Gilbert Venegas in their main event battle Saturday evening at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana.

Scores were 60-54 across the board for the Chicago-bred welterweight, who had stopped each of his last five opponents heading into Saturday’s marquee attraction.

Interestingly, one of those stoppages had come versus Venegas last November, scoring a clean 3rd round technical knockout. This piece of trivia perhaps raising the question of why the need for a rematch since their previous outing was one-sided and having ended in conclusive fashion.

Nevertheless, they danced again, this time with the unbeaten 24-year old prospect forced to go six rounds for the first time in his young career. Brown enjoyed significant height and reach advantages over the 39-year old Venegas, who falls to 14-24-4 (8KOs), who has already fought six times thus far in 2016.

Brown advances to 18-0 (15KOs). The bout was just his second this year, a far cry from the 13-fight campaign he enjoyed in a hectic 2015 run.

Also remaining unbeaten was Shawndell Winters, a Chicagoland light heavyweight and local favorite who scored a 5th round stoppage of Maxwell Amponsah.

The most competitive bout of the night – on paper – produced the most promising win to date for Winters (8-0, 7KOs), whose pro debut came in this very venue last May. The 35-year old from Harvey, Ill. – barely 20 minutes west of the casino site – was forced to go beyond the 4th round for his first time as a pro, but managed to get the job done in breaking down and stopping Amponsah (12-1, 11KOs), a knockout artist from Ghana now fighting out of Bronx, New York.

The most significant sighting among the evening’s preliminary action was that of 37-year old David Estrada. The former welterweight contender is now two wins into his comeback after scoring a 4th round technical knockout of Antony Nelson (7-14-1, 7KOs), a clubfighter from Kansas City who has now suffered four straight stoppage losses dating back to 2009.

Once in the thick of things in a loaded welterweight division, Estrada saw his career transform from contender to steppingstone in a hurry. Losses to Shane Mosley, Kermit Cintron and Andre Berto were enough to permanently keep him on the outside looking in, while heartbreaking defeats to Jesus Soto Karass and then-unbeaten Luis Carlos Abregu told a harsher tale in terms of his career direction.

Three straight wins had followed – including a decision over then-unbeaten Orlando Lora – before stepping away from the game in 2010. A brief one-off return came in 2013, but now appears to be all the way back now with two fights in the past three months. His latest adventure saw Nelson battered before choosing to remain in his corner for the start of round four.

Estrada now improves to 28-6 (17KOs), having now won six in a row dating back to 2009.

FULL RESULTS

Ed “Bad Boy” Brown UD6 (60-54 x3) Gilbert Venegas

Shawndell Winters KO 5 (2:25) Maxwell Amponsah

David Estrada TKO 4 (0:01) Antony Nelson

Jose Arambula TKO 2 (1:15) Kelly Wright

Raphael Murphy TKO 2 (1:22) Skylar Thompson

Bertha Aracil UD4 (40-36, 39-37 x2) Sarah French

Jaime Herrera KO 4 (1:22) Thomas Allen

Francisco Saldana KO 1 (1:04) Bryan Ramirez

Martez McGregor TKO 2 (0:46) Frankie Sparks

Matthew Murphy TKO 1 (1:43) Kenneth Thomas, Jr.

Twitter: @JakeNDaBox_v2