Conlan KO8 Nelson in WAR! Tonight at The Copper Box, super-flyweights Jamie Conlan and Anthony Nelson engaged in a fight so fierce, so thrilling, it simply has to go down as 2016’s Fight of The Year thus far into the 12 months. Conlan took Nelson’s Commonwealth title with a body shot KO at 40-seconds of the 8th-round, to improve to 16-0(10), with Nelson, who was making the first defence of the title, falling to 11-1(2) – but the final result does not come close to telling the whole story.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/SHOWTIME) WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack (20-1-1, 12 KOs) came up empty on Saturday night in having to settle for a 12 round draw against the hard working former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (32-3-1, 25 KOs) at the DC Armory in Washington, DC. The scores were 117-111, 114-114 and 114-114.
With the fight being scored a draw, Jack retains his WBC title. He said he won’t be giving Bute a rematch because he believes he won. Jack said he’ll be facing IBF champion James DeGale next in a unification fight.
(Photo credit: Premier Boxing Champions) Andre Berto (31-4, 24 KOs) closed the door on his rivalry with Victor Ortiz (31-6-2, 24 KOs) in knocking him out in the 4th round tonight at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Berto knocked Ortiz down twice in the 4th round. Ortiz made it back to his feet after the second knockdown, but after referee Jack Reiss asked the 29-year-old Ortiz if he wanted to continue, Ortiz froze and failed to respond to his question.
Reiss wasn’t going to wait around forever for Ortiz to answer in the affirmative, so he stopped the fight. Ortiz not only didn’t answer Reiss when he asked him if he wanted to continue fighting; he actually turned his head away as if he was quitting.
Cromer’s British and Commonwealth super-featherweight Champion Liam Walsh defended his titles with an eighth round stoppage win over Troy James to retain both his titles on the same night that twin brother Ryan emphatically defended his British title against James Tennyson; another first for British boxing.
NATHAN GORMAN WTKO2 (2:48) VS. HRVOJE KISICEK —4 X 3 Minute Rounds International Heavyweight Contest – Ricky Hatton-trained heavyweight prospect Nathan Gorman announced himself on the professional stage with a first round stoppage win over Croatia’s Hrvoje Kisicek. The Mancunian mountain had his opponent down three times in the opening round before the referee waved off the contest at 2 minutes 48 seconds.
Anthony Joshua will make the first defence of his newly acquired IBF heavyweight belt on June 25th, as fans know, against unbeaten Californian Dominic Breazeale. The fight will go out on Sky Sports, almost certainly on Box Office, and promoter Eddie Hearn is currently working on getting a good under-card to support the main event a number of fans think will not last too long. Joshua, a genuine star in the making, blasted Charles Martin inside two disappointing rounds to take the belt he now holds, and some people fear a similar result will be witnessed on June 25th.
The former light-heavyweight champ has his licence revoked by New Jersey Control Board
Though he has never once been stopped in a fight, former light-heavyweight king Antonio Tarver has been stopped from fighting. At least Tarver – now aged 47 and last seen fighting to a draw with Steve Cunningham – has been stopped from fighting in the immediate future by The New Jersey Control Board.
Britain’s Kell Brook holds the IBF welterweight title and America’s Jessie Vargas hold the WBO 147-pound title: together they could make up a great unification fight this summer. That’s the word according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, who reports that the respective promoters of Brook and Vargas, Eddie Hearn and Carl Moretti, met this week and spoke about the fight. The two champions are both eager for big fights and it seems the biggest obstacle in the way of making this IBF/WBO clash is the location.
Olympic Bronze Medalist Andre Dirrell (25-2, 16 KOs) defeated Australia’s Blake Caparello (22-2-1, 6 KOs) by unanimous decision (98-91 X 3) in a 10-round super middleweight attraction in the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Spike main event from the Taj Mahal Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
In a bout that started off with a lot of back and forth action, Caparello struck first with a left in the second round that sent Dirrell to the canvas.
In an impressive punching display, former WBC 168lb champion Anthony Dirrell (29-1-1, 23 KOs) smashed the game but limited 32-year-old Caleb Truax (26-3-2, 16 KOs) in stopping him in the 1st round after putting him down twice in the 1st round on Friday night at the Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Dirrell stunned Truax with a right hand and then put him on the canvas with another right. Truax was able to continue fighting, but he was knocked down with the first clean landing shot that Dirrell threw. The fight was stopped immediately after the second knockdown. The fight was stopped at 1:49 of the round.