Steven Motley Jr. Falls Short In Orlando But Earns Respect

Steven Motley Jr. was a long way from where his debut fight took place last August. 564 miles to be exact.

That was the distance from his first fight in Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, to the Grand Caribe Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Despite being in a different time zone, Motley felt right at home for the first six minutes. His first two rounds against Ariel Perez couldn’t have gone any better if Ryan Coogler and Sylvester Stallone wrote a script for it.

In the first round, he controlled the pace and opened up a massive cut on his opponent’s left eye. In the second, he landed a counter left hand that sent Perez down, and ejected his mouthpiece. The third round, in his own words, is where “Everything went downhill. I used way too much energy in the third,” he said. “He knew he was down two rounds and came out very aggressive. He caught me with some shots and instead of grabbing him and making the ref do his job of breaking us up, I kept pushing him off of me. He was strong. As soon as I got back to the corner I was saying to myself, man you shouldn't done that. That was the wrong move. It really drained me.”

In the fourth round, a visibly tired Motley went down for the first time in his career and took an 8-count. After getting up, Motley took a single punch, and the fight was waived off for Perez. “I didn’t like it all,” Motley said of the stoppage. “I felt I could have continued, but the ref has a job to do so I understand. It was a very close fight and I felt that if I had made it through I had a chance to win.”

Motley isn't wrong in his thinking; all three ringside judges had the fight scored evenly at 28-28 heading into the fourth.

Even in coming up short trainer Dave Godber was very proud of Motley. “I was tremendously impressed by Steve and the courage and heart he showed. You don’t really know if a guy has it until the moment comes. When he got knocked down, he got up and kept fighting his a** off. I am tremendously proud of him. 

Godber, a former marine, also offered constructive criticism. “We gotta get back to fundamentals,” he emphasized. “Defensively, we had some issues, and that’s where a lot of the trouble started. We have to have disciplined hands defensively. But Steve a has a great skill set. It's not something I’m too worried about. He got a lot of experience in his first real fight and that is something that’s priceless.”

Part of that experience was coming up short. An experience that Motley painfully recalled. When asked about the emotions going through him immediately after the fight, Motley was open and honest. “I felt like I failed everyone,” he said. “I felt like I let everyone that supported me down. My family, my friends. All the guys that help me get ready. John Williams, Donte Banks, Luke Harris, Adrian Drane. It wasn't a good feeling at all.” 

As the days passed, Motley was able to shake this feeling and put everything into proper perspective. A hard earned, but valuable learning experience.

Motley may have not grabbed his opponent in the third round to slow him down like he should have, but he did grab lots of new fans and respect from the fight promoter, as well as the pro-Perez Orlando crowd. 

Most Valuable Promotions (created by Jake Paul) showed him lots of love on their instagram page, pointing out how Perez had to dig deep to overcome the hot start by Motley. Motley said after getting a taste of being on a significant fight card, he is excited and anxious to get back in the gym. “I really learned a lot about myself,” he told me. “I learned I can handle adversity. I learned I can take a punch. I learned that I can stay calm under fire.”

Nothing is official as of this writing, but a potential fight deal is in the works for Motley. He plans to take a little time off, then get right back to the grind.

Big Mot has even bigger plans.