Jeremiah Milton didn’t get the knockout finish but ended 2023 with his perfect record intact.

The undefeated rising heavyweight prospect turned away a determined but limited Dajuan Calloway in claiming a six-round, unanimous decision victory. Scores were 59-55, 59-55 and 58-56 in favor of Milton as part of a BLK Prime Pay-Per-View event Saturday evening at CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

Calloway outweighed Milton by 137 pounds at Friday’s official pre-fight weigh-in and found a way to use his naturally bigger size to his advantage in the opening round. Milton was the busier fighter throughout the night was visibly pushed across the ring by two separate Calloway counter shots.

Singular moments were not going to win the fight for the oversized Ohio native, though.

Milton made an adjustment in round two, not falling for the traps set by Calloway and sticking to basic boxing. The Tulsa-bred heavyweight, who trains out of Las Vegas, was steady with his right hand upstairs but surprisingly neglected the body for the first few rounds.

Combination punching was the difference in impressing the judges, with Milton outworking Calloway by a wide margin in round three. The 28-year-old heavyweight prospect took the attack downstairs in round four, landing looping right hands and left hooks below Calloway’s high guard. Calloway patiently stood in a corner while riding out Milton’s steady workrate, landing an occasional left hook.

Calloway (5-2, 5KOs) turned away in pain in round five after complaining of a low blow. It spoke to the late concentrated efforted by Milton to break down Calloway’s soft midsection, though he had to settle for pitching a landsiide win to pick up his fifth win of 2022 as he improved to 8-0 (6KOs).

Headlining the show, local hero and three-division champ Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford (38-0, 29KOs) defends his WBO welterweight title versus streaking contender David Avanesyan (29-3-1, 17KOs).

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox