British Boxing News
It’s 9-years ago today that Stephen Smith claimed his Commonwealth Gold medal in Melbourne a reality the fighter summed it up nicely when he tweeted, “Scary how time flies, but great memories”.
Smith, 20-1 (12KO’s), will make his return to professional action on Saturday night on the exciting Kell Brook v Jo Jo Dan undercard, looking to put on an empathic performance to lay to rest a difficult few months he will be looking to forget – professionally at least.
Kell Brook steps between the ropes for the first time as a World champion on Saturday night as he defends his IBF Welterweight title at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield against Jo Jo Dan in ‘Unbreakable’ presented by FX World, live on Sky Sports – after fearing he may never walk again after the shocking attack he suffered on holiday in Spain in September.
Brook ripped the title from Shawn Porter in Los Angeles in August with a stunning performance in the American’s backyard, but just two weeks after that win, Brook was fighting for his life in hospital after a machete attack whilst on holiday in Spain.
When Matty Askin, 17-2 (10KO’s), was told his eagerly anticipated tilt at Ovill McKenzie’s, 23-12 (12KO’s), British and Commonwealth cruiserweight titles was to be rescheduled, he could be forgiven for thinking it was some sort of joke.
Unfortunately for the 26-year old, his friend and trainer Michael Jennings was deadly serious when – three days before fight night – he informed him that the fight was to be rescheduled for the third time with a revised date and venue yet to be confirmed.
Thankfully the bout was saved and will now take place within the iconic York Hall, Bethnal Green on Friday 27th March at the fourth time of asking.
Kevin Satchell, 14-0 (3KO’s), will now defend his European Flyweight title against mandatory challenger Thomas Masson, 12-3 (3KO’s), in the wake of a surprise defeat for Chinese boxing poster boy Zou Shiming, 6-1 (1KO), on 7th March.
Rumours were rife – following Satchell’s confident 1st round stoppage of the heavily outclassed Walter Rojas a night earlier – that the Liverpool man was next in line to face the would be superstar following an expected victory over IBF titlist Amnat Ruenroeng, 15-0 (5KO’s).
In discussing fellow British heavyweight Tyson Fury, David Price had some talk as though the fight between himself and Fury was a likely one down the road. Price firstly said, that if Fury doesn’t get the Klitschko fight, or if he is in a position where he has a long wait on his hands, the Price vs. Fury matchup could be a good one. There is also the opportunity here to see the Price vs. Fury fight after Klitschko has faced Fury. Whether Fury would win or lose that fight, a Price match afterwards would make sense.
Hammer did not have the speed, size or strength to trouble Fury, and Fury seemed to enjoy the night, jabbing away and moving back and forth between stances before the fight was ultimately stopped after the eighth round when Christians corner had seen enough and threw in the towel. This marked Tyson’s eighth stoppage in his past nine outings.
The championship bout was televised on AWE-A Wealth of Entertatinment.
After a clinch in round two, Frampton drilled Avalos with a left hook while Avalos thought there was a time out. That shot split Avlaos’ lip. Frampton continued to land hard one-two combinations. Frampton showed some battle scars as he started to develop a a mouse around the right eye.
DEMPSEY FURY vs. ERNEST DEPKAS
LEWIS PETTITT 128lbs (9st 2lbs) vs. DAVID KVARATSKHELIA
BOY JONES JNR. 132lbs (9st 6¼lbs) vs. JOE BEEDON
BRADLEY SKEETE (10st 6½lbs) vs. ANZOR GAMGEBELI 141½lbs (10st 1½lbs)
LIAM WALSH 129lbs (9st 3½lbs) vs. JOE MURRAY 129lbs (9st 3¾lbs)
DMITRY CHUDINOV 159lbs (11st 5¾lbs) vs. CHRIS EUBANK JNR. 159lbs (11st 5½lbs)
TYSON FURY 260lbs (18st 8lbs) vs. CHRISTIAN HAMMER 248lbs (17st 10lbs)
FRANK BUGLIONI 167¾lbs (11st 13lbs) vs. IVAN JUKIC 166lbs (11st 12lbs)
For a while it seemed as though Amir Khan would get his dream of a super fight against either Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao. It was certainly unlikely that they were going to fight each other, and they would both need opponents and Khan was coming off a supremely dominant performance over former world champion Devon Alexander.
Amir Khan has had a lot of ups and downs in his career, but it seemed as though all the chasing had been doing was going to pay off one way in another. Unfortunately for him they ended up making the fight and he was left out in the cold without an opponent or a world title. His last fight was in 2014, and so surely will now be searching for a good named opponent to try and nab a match with one of these guys at a later date, or another big fight at the very least.
WBO International Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury and challenger Christian Hammer came head-to-head today at the Cineworld in The O2 ahead of Saturday’s big showdown, live and exclusive on BoxNation.
Undefeated Fury’s risks his title and WBO mandatory shot against reigning world champion Wladimir Klitschko if he loses to the number three ranked challenger.
But Fury is fully aware of what’s at stake and say he’ll retire if can’t defeat the hard-hitting Germany based Romaninan.