By Eric Armit
May 25
Cheavon Clarke leaves his mark on Zorro – Leeds, UK
Clarke received the vacant British title with a KO of Ellis Zorro. In the early motion, Zorro boxed cleverly on the again foot utilizing his jab and loads of nifty footwork to keep away from the assaults of the slower Clarke. Zorro continued to carry Clarke off, and when Clarke did get inside, he held on to smother Clarke’s hooks and uppercuts.
Zorro was given a warning for holding at the begin of the eighth and Clarke was then in a position to pressure him to the ropes and landed an enormous proper that made Zorro buckle at the knees and retreat. Clarke closed in and three clubbing proper despatched Zorro down and he was counted out. Clarke, 33, grabbed his seventh win by KO/TKO.
Jamaican-born Clarke, who beat present WBO cruiserweight champion Chris Billam-Smith in the amateurs, represented Jamaica at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Clarke then switched to characterize England/Great Britain successful a silver medal at the European Championships, a bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and competed at the Tokyo Olympics. Zorro, 31, misplaced his unbeaten tag when he was knocked out in a single spherical by Jai Opetaia in December.
Perfect Paddy rinses Ritson – Leeds, UK
Paddy Donovan wore down Lewis Ritson for a ninth-round stoppage. In the early rounds, southpaw Donovan boxed in a cool and managed vogue, primarily on the retreat, with Ritson advancing behind a excessive guard, utilizing his jab to set Donovan up for rights.
Donovan switched ways in the seventh, happening the entrance foot, taking the struggle to Ritson. He continued these ways efficiently in the eighth, trapping Ritson in a nook and then alongside the ropes for the second half of the spherical, scoring with hooks and some neck-snapping uppercuts. Ritson fired occasional counters to persuade the referee he was nonetheless in the struggle, however solely simply.
Donovan once more drove Ritson to the ropes in the ninth and was bombarding him with punches when the referee stopped the struggle. Donovan was making the second defence of the WBA Continental belt along with his fifth consecutive inside-the-distance victory.
Cully pushes sole loss additional behind him by beating Patera – Leeds, UK
Gary Cully outpointed Francesco Patera by unanimous choice. Patera knew he must take the struggle inside towards the 6’2” Cully, and he did that in the first, specializing in physique punches with Cully utilizing proper jabs and straight lefts to attain.
Tiring in the direction of the finish, Patera staged a storming end to take the tenth and make it shut. The scores got here in at 96-94 (twice) and a too-wide 98-92 for Cully.
The winner beforehand suffered a crushing defeat when Mexican Jose Felix floored him twice and stopped him in three rounds in May final yr, however a win over Reece Mould in November went some strategy to restoring his fame.
Two-time European champion Patera once more confirmed his wonderful abilities and tactical experience however simply got here up brief right here. He was 10-1 in his final eleven fights with the defeat approaching factors towards the massively gifted Keyshawn Davis in July 2023.
Gary Cully (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
May 24
Buoyant Ballingall bosses Benjamin – London, UK
Lucas Ballingall survived a last-round knockdown to outpoint Kaisee Benjamin. These two have been nicely matched, with Ballingall being extra cell and faster however doing a bit an excessive amount of flashy showmanship, whereas Benjamin labored solidly all the method.
Neither is a heavy puncher, and Ballingall went for amount, attacking with fast bursts of punches, whereas Benjamin threw much less however with extra accuracy. Ballingall’s intelligent boxing and speedier motion gave him the edge, and with swelling affecting Benjamin’s imaginative and prescient out of his proper eye, Ballingall had lead going into the tenth.
He was drained, and Benjamin landed a collection of hooks to the physique. An exhausted Ballingall was desperately holding when he misplaced his mouthguard, gaining a couple of seconds of respite. A proper shook Ballingall, and then three punches dropped him with simply 16 seconds remaining in the struggle.
He climbed to his toes and grabbed Benjamin to make it by way of the few remaining seconds. Ballingall received on scores of 96-93 twice and 95-94. He additionally claimed the vacant IBF European title. Benjamin suffered back-to-back losses towards Dalton Smith and Sean McComb however had received his final two fights coming in.
Who beats Isaac Chilemba? Aleksei Papin for one – Balashikha, Russia
Papin brushed apart a light Chilemba in the second. Chilemba confirmed all of his expertise as he boxed his method cleverly in the first spherical, irritating a harmful Papin.
Papin launched a fierce assault in the second, driving Chilemba to the ropes and then tried to beat Chilemba to the ground however the Malawian blocked lots of the photographs and wriggled off the ropes.
A left hook despatched Chilemba to the ropes once more and this time there was no escape. Papin bombarded Chilemba with punches till Chilemba ended up mendacity on his again on the canvas and the referee instantly stopped the struggle.
May 23
Jermaine Franklin beat a drained Devin Vargas – Detroit, USA
Franklin bought in some goal follow towards a flabby however resilient Vargas. A proper uppercut despatched Vargas down in the fourth and though badly damage and bleeding closely from the nostril, Vargas managed to beat the depend and fought again bravely in the fifth.
Late in the sixth, with Vargas towards the ropes, Franklin linked with a left hook and a proper and Vargas dropped to the canvas. He was up shortly with the bell going earlier than the referee might begin a depend however correctly Vargas didn’t come out for the seventh.
Jermaine Franklin (James Chance/Getty Images)
May 22
Jukembayev rips into Redkach – Florida, USA
Batyrzhan Jukembayev halted a worn-looking Ivan Redkach in 5 rounds on Pro Box TV. Quicker and extra correct along with his southpaw jabs, Jukembayev was in cost all the method.
This was Jukembayev’s fifth consecutive win as he tries to work his strategy to a title shot. He was floored and misplaced on a retirement towards Subriel Matias in May 2021, so he will probably be hoping to get an opportunity for revenge now that Matias is the IBF champion. However, his solely present ranking is No 12 with the WBA.
At 38, Redkach appeared like a candidate for retirement. After going 19-1-1, he has dropped to 5-6 in latest exercise and this was solely his second struggle in three years.
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