As most had expected beforehand, reigning and defending IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook made short work of mandatory challenger Kevin Bizier of Canada last night in his hometown of Sheffield. Destroying the previously unstopped challenger inside just two-rounds, Brook improved to 36-0(25). But immediately after his easy and ruthless night’s work, Brook called out the big guns of the talent-rich 147-pound weight class he believes he can conquer.
Tonight at Wembley, bitter middleweight rivals Chris Eubank Junior and Nick Blackwell went to war in a domestic fight of the year candidate. Blackwell lost his British middleweight title by way of a 10th-round TKO when referee Victor Loughlin, on advice of the doctor, stopped the fight due to a quite horrific swelling to Blackwell’s left eye. The time was 2:21 of the 10th and Eubank, in claiming the title he said he had dreamt of winning since he was aged 15, improved to 22-1(17). Blackwell, one of the toughest fighting men in British boxing, falls to 19-4-1(8). Blackwell was carried from the ring by a stretcher and he was given oxygen. We all hope he is okay.
Two young and unbeaten British heavyweights who are still in the early stages of their respective careers got stoppage wins tonight. In Sheffield, on the under-card of the Kell Brook-Kevin Bizier show, David Allen improved to 9-0-1(6) with a 4th-round corner retirement win over experienced U.S journeyman Jason Gavern, 27-21-4(12).
24-year-old Allen was to have fought Richard Towers in a British title eliminator but Towers pulled out with illness and 38-year-old Gavern, no stranger to British shores having fought Anthony Joshua and participated in a “Prizefighter” show here, stepped in at late notice. The fight was unfortunately a dull, scrappy affair, despite Gavern’s attempts at livening things up with his familiar “whooo” chants during the action.
If you are a fan of brutal one-punch knockouts, chances are you will not find a more savage KO to satisfy your bloodlust than the one super-welterweight Justin DeLoach scored last night in Miami, Oklahoma. The 22-year-old known as “The Chosen One,” absolutely ruined previously unbeaten (16-0) Dillon Cook with a sizzling right hand to the head in the 4th-round. The instant the shot landed, Cook was gone and he crumpled into a kind of sitting position with his legs underneath him. It was as destructive as it was scary.
In actuality, Puerto Rican lightweight sensation is no longer a prospect – the 22-year-old who has already been called the new Felix Trinidad by some, is a contender. And Verdejo’s growing number of fans will be happy this year as the 20-0(14) star of the future has a busy schedule planned. Verdejo was forced to remain inactive for a spell of six months last year due to a hand injury that required surgery. Returning to action in December, following the layoff, Verdejo’s hand held up fine as he stopped Josenilson Dos Santos, Verdejo then pitched a near shut-out over talented Brazilian William Silva in February, Silva being unbeaten upon entering the fight.
Adrien Broner has a problem. News broke yesterday how the often controversial fighter, the reigning WBA 140-pound champ, is wanted by police for a serious altercation that took place back in January of this year outside a Cincinnati bowling alley. Broner is alleged to have beat up a friend he was gambling with. Reportedly, Broner, who was armed, knocked the man unconscious, splitting his chin with the need for stitches.
Former WBA heavyweight champ David Haye, who returned to the ring following a near four year absence in January, will host a press conference at London’s O2 next Wednesday to officially announce his second comeback opponent, so reports South London Press. Haye, also a former undisputed cruiserweight champion, destroyed Australia’s Mark de Mori inside a round in January, before a sold-out O2 arena, and with a TV audience of over three million tuning in to free-to-air channel DAVE.
Fight fans who saw the first, 2011 encounter between welterweights Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto remember fondly the four-knockdown battle won on points by Ortiz – so much so that everyone involved in putting together the rematch of April 30th is hoping these same fans will pay to see the sequel. Neither Ortiz, 31-5-2(24) nor Berto, 30-4(23) are the fighters they once were and both have suffered injuries and bad defeats since they went to war five years ago. Still, the two 147-pounders are doing their utmost to talk up the rematch.
Fight fans might be getting a little bit tired of waiting for the Tyson Fury-Wladimir Klitschko rematch, and they are certainly getting tired about hearing when and where the fight may or may not take place; but still the saga continues. We’ve heard how the fight might go ahead in Austria on June 4th, or in Manchester, UK on the same date.
Then both venues and dates were confirmed as unconfirmed (!) and the wait for something concrete resumed. But today, in speaking with weekly trade paper Boxing News, or at least its website, Fury’s promoter Mick Hennessey said the latest word is that the fight will go ahead at a stadium in the UK in July.
The referee and the three scoring officials have been named ahead of the upcoming April 9th rubber-match between Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley. Robert Byrd will referee the clash in Las Vegas, while the three judges will be Dave Moretti, Burt Clements and Steve Weisfeld. Byrd is as experienced as can be and he has refereed both Pacquiao and Bradley before, being the third man for the first fight between the two, which as we know ended up as one of the most controversial fights, or decisions, in years. Bradley won in 2012, yet virtually nobody agreed with the verdict.