Anthony Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) made easy work of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou (0-2), stopping him in the second round of a scheduled ten-round fight on Friday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Joshua knocked Ngannou out cold with a big right hand in the second round that sent him down hard backfirst on the canvas. The referee immediately halted the fight. Moments earlier in the round, Joshua dropped Ngannou with a left hook.
In the first round, Joshua dropped Ngannou with a right hand late after he made the mistake of switching to southpaw.
– Joseph Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) got off the canvas twice to defeat WBO interim heavyweight champion Zhilei Zhang (26-2-1, 21 KOs) to win a 12-round majority decision in an upset victory.
The scores were 113-113, 114-112 and 115-111. The fight was dull and disappointing from start to finish. Although Parker won, he looked timid as usual but did just enough to get the decision.
Parker was hurt in the third round from a left to the head, and dropped hard. However, Zhang, 40, let Parker off the hook by not following up with a fierce follow up attack.
From there, Parker took the control over the fight, outworking Zhang to win the rounds, but not doing a lot himself. Zhang was stalking Parker around the ring but not letting his hands go for some reason.
In between rounds, Zhang’s trainer repeatedly told him to start throwing more, and he would nod his head, but then fail to follow the instructions. Zhang was totally gassed in the twelfth and didn’t throw a single punch.
– WBC featherweight champion Rey Vargas (36-1-1, 22 KOs) retained his title with a 12 round draw against Nick Ball (19-0-1, 11 KOs). Vargas dominated the first six rounds, appearing to win them with waste against Ball, who resembled a wrestler more than a fighter tonight. The scores were 114-112 for Vargas, 116-111 for Ball, and 113-113.
The fight was marred by Ball’s fouling with him using these cheating tactics: elbowing, body slamming, holding & hitting, rabbit punching, and hitting on the break. If the referee had been on his job, he would have taken off six points minimum from Ball.
Ball bodyslammed Vargas in the third round, with the referee warning but not taking points off. In the eighth, Ball threw Vargas off balance with a wrestling move and hit him, putting him on the canvas.
Surprisingly, the referee counted it as a knockdown. In the eleventh, Ball made a similar move, shoving Vargas hard and hitting him while he was off balance to put him down. Again, the referee scored it as a knockdown.
After the fight, Ball’s promoter seemed confident that the sanctioning body would order a rematch with Vargas. If that’s the case, they need to stage the fight in a neutral venue with a better referee working that controls the fouling that Ball uses.
– Junior middleweight contender Israil Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) dominated Magomed Kurbanov (25-1, 13 KOs), stopping him in the fifth round to win the vacant WBA junior middleweight title.
Looking like a young Gennadiy Golovkin, Madrimov hurt Kurbanov with a looping right hand to the head in the fifth. Kurbanov immediately retreated to the ropes, where Madrimov fired off monstrous right hands one after another.
With Kurbanov close to falling, the referee, Howard Foster, stepped and stopped the fight. The time of the stoppage was at 2:20 of the fifth.
“I want more belts,” said Madrimov after the fight.
– Lightweight Mark Chamberlain (15-0, 11 KOs) scored a fourth-round TKO stoppage over Gavin Gwynne (17-3-1, 5 KOs) to win the WBA International 135-lb belt. The fight was stopped after Chamberlain fired off a storm of body shots against Gwynne in the fourth round after trapping him against the ropes.
Gwynne looked entirely done by this point in the fight after suffering a closed right eye and being hit numerous shots by Chamberlain, who looked like a smaller version of Joe Calzaghe tonight. The stoppage occurred at 2:46 of the fourth.
The fight arguably could have been stopped in the third round because Gwynne’s right eye was completely closed, and it looked like he was having trouble seeing the punches coming from that side. Chamberlain fought really well tonight, showing excellent punch variety and throwing nonstop shots.
Granted, he didn’t have to worry about Gwynne’s power since he’s not a puncher, but it was impressive to watch his technique and the high-volume shots he was throwing. It would be interesting to see how Chamberlain would do against a top-15 lightweight like Raymond Muratalla, Vasily Lomachenko, Andy Cruz, or William Zepeda.
– Justis Huni secures the victory against Kevin Lerena, with the scorecards showing 96-94 from two judges and a puzzling 98-92 from the third. In a dramatic turn of events, Huni narrowly avoids his first professional loss, elevating his record to an unblemished 9-0 and capturing the WBO Global belt along the way. In the final round, Lerena unleashed a massive left hook, sending Huni into a dizzying spiral, his legs barely supporting him. Despite Lerena’s aggressive pursuit, aiming to end the fight, Huni’s bobbing and weaving kept him just beyond reach. The fight hung in the balance, with Huni visibly shaken, but Lerena, depleted and unable to land the decisive blow in the 10th round, fell short. In those last crucial moments, his energy waned. Huni managed to survive. That round was a thriller!
– Louis Greene didn’t dilly-dally; he stormed right up to Jack McGann as soon as the bell chimed, getting down to business with a solid shot to the midsection Greene plowed ahead, slamming a hefty overhand right past McGann’s defenses, then targeting the body once more for good measure. McGann found himself in a pickle… then boom! Down he went, courtesy of a monstrous overhand right from Greene! McGann made an effort to rise, shaky on his legs, but the ref had seen enough shenanigans. Louis Greene clinched the victory in the opening act! What a KO!
–Â Roman Fury carved out a victory over Martin Svarc, with the judges all nodding in agreement to a 39-37 verdict. This sparks the question: How many Furys are stepping into the ring these days?
– In a fight that won’t be making it into the history books for its thrills, our Saudi hometown hero, Ziyad Almaayouf, sailed to an easy win over Christian Lopez Flores, with all judges scoring it 60-54. At just 23, Almaayouf nudged his professional tally up to a clean 5-0.
– In a whirlwind of fists, Andrii Novytski triumphed over Juan Torres, ending the fight with a technical knockout in the third round, clock stopped at 2:43.