Tagoe and Perkins Miss Weight, Ferreira Wins WBC by DQ, Shields Wins TKO in Atlanta
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Atlanta, Georgia (August 16th, 2026)– In a zany collection of odd-oddity boxing outcomes at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, on a Saturday night DAZN card, August 15, 2026, Ernesto ‘Tito’ Mercado’s 140-pound division junior welterweight debut for Dmitriy Salita Promotions stunk out the house when main event opponent Emmanuel Tagoe showed up overweight. Georgia boxing commission officials would have let Tagoe fight if he could get within seven pounds of the contracted bout, but two hours after the first weigh-in, Tagoe was still 9.2 pounds overweight.
Light Heavyweight Danielle Perkins, who lost a unanimous decision to Claressa Shields last year, also showed up overweight for her scheduled female bout with Olivia Curry, and her bout was also scratched.
Shields, 19-0 with four knockouts, Flint, Michigan, won the World Boxing Council Female World Middleweight title by stopping Kaye Scott, 5-2-1, Sydney, Australia, at 1:36 of the sixth round after knocking her down. In the world of limited female professional fighters, Scott fought in her fourth consecutive International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Council Female Middleweight world title bout, going 1-1-2 in that stretch from 2024 to 2026. Scott began her career in 2023 by winning two different versions of the Australian Middleweight titles in her first two pro bouts. All this took place in only eight female pro bouts, which still did not put her in the league of Shields, but this is female pro boxing. Despite her limited record, Scott, who showed up in top condition as did Shields, fought life and death with Shields for several rounds despite her limited experience, proving that cutting weight and then fighting for Shields may not be as easy as it looks.
Shields called out IBF and WBO World Female Middleweight champion Tamm Thibeault for her next bout.
In the co-main event, Troy Isley, 17-0, six knockouts, Alexandria, Virginia, outpointed Joseph Hicks, now 12-2 with seven knockouts, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Isley, ranked number nine among middleweights by the World Boxing Council, got red-flagged and docked a point in round five for blatant kidney punching by referee Antonio Mohan. Scoring 97-92, 96-93, and 96-93 for Isley. The taller Hicks appeared to win rounds from round five on jabbing and counterpunching, yet Isley got the scorecards. After wrestling each other to the canvas in round three and taking the fight dirty, both fighters were warned by the referee to clean up the act in round four. After the bout, the former amateur boxer friends appeared to settle their differences, who went at it at the weigh-in, appeared to settle their hostilities.
Female southpaw Ashleyann Lozada, 5-0 with one knockout, San Juan, Puerto Rico, won the female World Boxing Association Gold with a 10-round unanimous decision over Paulette Cuesta, 19-6-1 with four knockouts, Los Angeles, California, by way of Tijuana, Mexico, two-minute rounds. Cuesta won only one round on one scorecard. Not a close bout.
IBO World Female Junior Lightweight champion Bernice Ferreira, 11-0 with four knockouts, Johannesburg, South Africa, won the World Boxing Council Female World Junior Lightweight championship at 1:04 of the eighth round by disqualification by referee Malik Waleed when WBC female champion Carolina Veyre, 11-2, Montreal, Canada, got disqualified for excessive holding. Veyre lost points for holding in rounds four and seven.
2-0 super welterweight Daniel Mercado of Pomona, California, recorded his second consecutive first-round knockout, knocking out 1-5 Rahmel McKinley of Bladenboro, North Carolina, in the first round of the opening bout. McKinley has been knocked out in the first or second round in his last four bouts in 2026 for the full ten count and should be retired, in this reporter’s view, to prevent further punishment.
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