Boxing results from all major fights worldwide
Anthony Joshua KO1 Michael Sprott (10 x 3 mins British Heavyweight title eliminator)
When Anthony Joshua arrived in the ring at 11pm he did so with menace sporting a Tyson like get-up of solid black and like the erstwhile baddest man on the planet, the 2012 Olympian wasn’t in the mood to hang around.
It’s often the case that rematches just fail to deliver on their promise of a repeat of what had gone before. Tonight the Liverpool Echo Arena bore witness to one such occasion, when Nathan Cleverly and Tony Bellew met for the second time to settle their long-standing bitter feud, in the full view of the PPV cameras.
The audience at the O2 arena was roaring with excitement and there was huge support for the challenger Kubrat Pulev who was a visitor at Klitschko’s home turf. The valiant Pulev jumped right at Wladimir from the opening bell and tried to brawl with him at close at middle range. Klitschko did not back down and after some wrestling and jostling for position he found “the frequency” and exploited a big opening in Pulev’s defense.
Pulev kept his right hand up but too far forward inviting Wladimir to throw left hooks. Klitschko was cautious at first watching out for traps but tested the opening, connected and put Pulev down with a left hook in the first round. “The Cobra” rose quickly and went forward again making the same mistake and Klitschko repeated the exercise with the left hook knocking Pulev down for the second time. Pulev beat the count again and fought back at the champion who tried to finish him in the first round but the challenger survived somehow.
Bulgarian challenger Kubrat Pulev (20-1, 11 KOs) proved to be too weak in the chin tonight in getting stopped in the 5th round by IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (63-3, 53 KOs) at the O2 Arena in Hamburg, Germany.
Pulev was knocked down four times in the fight from left hooks. He was down twice in the 1st, once in the 3rd and a final time in the 5th. Referee Tony Weeks stopped the fight at 2:11 of the 5th after Wladimir put Pulev down with a left hook to the head that put Pulev down on his back. The shot caused a huge swelling under Pulev’s right eye.
The pre-fight build up and the suspense had obviously gotten to both Sergey Kovalev and Bernard Hopkins as they showed uncharacteristic body language while waiting for the opening bell on Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Kovalev was unusually restless and had an urgent expression while Hopkins’s face was hidden behind his new mask but he looked artificial and stiff walking aimlessly around the ring. Hopkins tried too hard to appear nonchalant and refused to touch gloves with Kovalev who tried to show respect to the veteran but cared little for his mind games.
Round 1- timing is of the essence. Kovalev lost all respect after the bell, he took center ring and stalked Hopkins who openly refused to engage and started trying to buy time while conserving energy. “The Krusher” did not rush forward; he gave Hopkins the courtesy of “feeling him out”, adjusting the range and testing his reflexes. Midway through the round Kovalev’s demeanor changed, he raised his head from behind the guard, his expression softened and he started “walking in the park”, it was his fight already and he knew the reason.
All that Remains is a Win vs. Stevenson to Unify the Light Heavyweight Division
By Justin Jones and Paul “Paparazzi” Jones | Photo © Paul “Paparazzi” Jones – Atlantic City, NJ – Many questioned whether WBO champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (26-0-1, 23 KOs) could defeat future Boxing Hall of Famer and former WBA/IBF champ Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs) in a Light Heavyweight unification bout. People pointed to Kovalev’s limited competition, the lack of a signature win, and a sizeable gap in experience between the two.
Danny O`Connor made a triumph return to the boxing ring in front of his hometown crowd as he dominated Andrew “The Doo Man” Framer and then knocked him out at 2:33 in the fourth round from a devastating left hook to the body.
“I was a bit nervous because this was my first fight in a while and I was boxing in front of my hometown fans, but I saw Farmer`s punches really well tonight and successfully counter-punch and landed what I wanted,” said O` Connor. “I wasn’t looking for the knockout punch, but it presented itself and I`m glad I won the way I did for my fans.”
Former light heavyweight world title challenger Andrzej Fonfara (26-3, 15 KOs) defeated Doudou Ngumbu (33-6, 12 KOs) by a workmanlike 10 round unanimous decision tonight in a fight that was a tougher than it should have been for Fonfara at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. Fonfara was hit cleanly by a lot of Ngumbu’s best power shots in the fight.
The defense definitely wasn’t there tonight for the 6’2” Fonfara, but he was still able to outwork Ngumbu to win by the scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 97-93. The 98-92 score was a way off from the fight that actually took place in the ring. Ngumbu did a lot better than that score.
Ngumbu was hurt in the 5th round from a left hand from Fonfara. In the 10th, Fonfara had his way with a tired Ngumbu in nailing him with a lot of hard power shots.
In a night of personal best’s Gavin McDonnell was in no mood to miss out on the fun, outpointing Vusi Malinga in a display of will, determination and no shortage of skill to the delight of the Humberside crowd.
England’s Martin Murray continued his march towards a world title shot with a dramatic seventh-round technical decision win over rugged Domenico Spada of Italy in the main bout on the Golden Gloves “Title Tornado” card in Monaco on Saturday night.
The fight was called off due to an accidental head butt, leading to a premature calling of the judges’ scorecards.