Revenge for Catterall, putting the KO in Okolie and quickfire Mbilli

By Eric Armit

HIGHLIGHTS from the previous week of motion

Lawrence Okolie gained the WBC Bridgerweight title with a first-round destruction of Lukasz Rozanski, whereas Fiodor Czerkaszyn and Ihosvany Garcia additionally gained.

Jack Catterall scored a unanimous determination over Josh Taylor to realize revenge for his controversial loss to Taylor in 2022. There had been wins for Cheavon Clarke, Paddy Donovan and Gary Cully.

Christian Mbilli scored a first-round KO over Mark Heffron, and Arslanbek Makhmudov knocked out Miljan Rovcanin in the second spherical.

Batyrzhan Jukembayev stopped Ivan Redkach in the fifth spherical.

There had been inside-the-distance wins for Jermaine Franklin and Ali Akhmedov in Detroit.

Vlad Panin scored a controversial second-round win over Devon Alexander.

Former European Championships gold medallist Balasz Bacskai gained the vacant WBO European titles and now retires with an 18-0 file.

Alexei Papin halted veteran Isaac Chilemba in three rounds.

Dana Thorsland outpointed Seran Cetin in defence of her WBC and WBO bantamweight titles.

Commonwealth champion Tysie Gallagher retained her title as she outpointed Stevi Levy to develop into the first holder of the feminine model of the British super-bantamweight title.

Who gained the week?

Most significant: Jack Catterall’s win over Josh Taylor will hopefully result in a title shot for Catterall.

Most entertaining: Not excessive profile, however Jonathan Cardoso vs. Adam Lopez was an entertaining conflict of types. 

Fighter of the week: Jack Catterall, with honourable point out to Christian “Solide” Mbilli, who produced one other energy present.

Punch of the week: The left hook to the physique from Mbilli that ended his combat with Mark Heffron was brutal, however so was the one from Ihosvany Garcia that felled Lukasz Plawecki.

Upset of the week: Dane Mikkel Nielsen, 12-2, was not anticipated to beat the dwelling fighter, 20-1-2 Renato Egedi, however he disposed of him in two rounds.

Prospect watch: Cuban Ihosvany Garcia, 13-0 (10 by KO/TKO), now has wins over Ryno Liebenberg and 22-1 Patrick Rokhol.

Fight Card Observations

Rosette: To Matchroom for the solely large present in city and 4 aggressive high-quality matches. The Polish present had a world title combat, however the undercard was underwhelming.

Red Card: Bob Arum for his assault on the judging in the Catterall vs. Taylor combat. I believed the scores had been too extensive, however I had it 115-113. If the judges scored one spherical otherwise to the means I noticed it, that may make it 116-112, and for three rounds, it might be 117-111, so disagreeing on three rounds out of twelve isn’t any large deal.

Lawrence Okolie gained the WBC Bridgerweight title on Friday. The restrict for the Bridgerweight division is 224lbs. Oleksandr Usyk weighed 223 ½ lbs when successful the WBC heavyweight title final week! Now, why was it essential to have this division between cruiserweight and heavyweight? Surely not for yet one more load of sanctioning charges for the enormous variety of titles in each weight division.

May 25

Catterall will get candy revenge over Taylor

Catterall gained revenge for his break up determination defeat in 2022 as he scored a unanimous determination in this one. The first spherical noticed each boxers probing with their proper jabs. Catterall landed an excellent proper to the head and though Taylor was taking the combat to Catterall he was having issues moving into vary.

They clashed heads early in the second, and fortunately, neither was damage, however as they had been each always leaning ahead, clashes had been inevitable, and they clashed once more at the begin of the third. Tayor had a greater spherical attacking with extra objective, and he made good use of his proper hook to offset the side-on stance of Catterall.

The fourth noticed Catterall work arduous and precisely together with his jab, slotting punches via the guard of Taylor as Taylor got here ahead, and he landed a left to the head that pressured Taylor to again away. At that time I had it 39-37 for Catterall with the three judges having Catterall forward 40-36, 40-36 and 39-37 for Catterall.

Catterall moved even additional forward in the fifth as he caught Taylor time and once more with stabbing jabs, then scored with a sequence of punches, together with a tough left hook, and though the tempo dropped in the sixth, once more, it was Catterall doing the superior work. For me, Taylor was now 4 factors behind, and the combat was slipping additional and additional away from him.

He responded by taking the seventh and eighth. He put Catterall below extra strain, staying on high of him, giving Catterall no punching room, and connecting with some good lefts as Catterall’s output dropped. My rating at that time was 77-75 for Catterall, with the judges’ scores 79-73, 79-74, and 77-75 for Catterall.

The ninth noticed Catterall bounce again, shifting extra utilizing his jab once more, and he put collectively a flashing mixture that pressured Taylor to retreat. Taylor got here on sturdy at the finish of the spherical, however it was Catterall’s spherical. It was Taylor’s flip to up his tempo, and in the tenth, he had Catterall backing up below a sequence of physique punches to take the spherical.

The eleventh was an enormous spherical for Catterall. As Taylor got here ahead, Catterall met him with a left hook that staggered Taylor and had him backing off badly shaken. Catterall adopted him throughout the ring to the ropes, firing punches with each arms.

Catterall then threw away the probability to drive a end as he grew to become entangled with Taylor. He wrapped his arm round Taylor’s neck, and as he leaned over, he tipped Taylor off steadiness and pressured Taylor down, then fell on high of him.

Although Catterall had extra success in the spherical, Taylor had recovered when the tangle was sorted out and he might hearth again. The final noticed Catterall forcing arduous early in the spherical and Taylor taking up and ending stronger to take the spherical, however it was not sufficient.

I had it 115-113 for Catterall, however the judges had it 117-111 twice and 116-113 for Catterall. There was no title on the line, however who wants one anyway?

May 25 

Mbilli wipes out Heffron in Canada

Christian Mbilli worn out Mark Heffron in 40 seconds. Heffron tried to make use of his longer attain to attain with jabs, however Mbilli pressured him to the ropes. Mbilli landed a few physique photographs and a proper to the head, with Heffron sliding alongside the ropes. Mbilli adopted him and then linked with a savage left hook to the physique that despatched Heffron down.

He managed to get so far as putting his arms and knees on the canvas however then might go no additional and crawled alongside the canvas while the referee counted him out. The Cameroon-born Frenchman made it 23 inside the distance wins.

He was defending his WBC Continental and WBA International belts. Although not filling the No 1 place, he’s rated in the high 3 by all 4 sanctioning our bodies and an actual dangerman to Saul Alvarez and David Benavidez. Englishman Heffron, a former British and Commonwealth title holder, was simply blown away. Talk is that Mbilli will meet Sergey Derevyanchenko in August.

Makhmudov returns sturdy after Kabayel defeat

Arslanbek Makhmudov minimize down Miljan Rovcanin inside two rounds. Rovcanin solely simply made it exterior the first spherical. A proper hand completed him off in the second. It was a typical show of brute power with no actual technical expertise from Makhmudov.

It has gained him 18 fights by KO/TKO, however his faults had been magnified in his combat towards Agit Kabayel in December when he was floored thrice and stopped in the fourth. Serb Rovcanin has constructed his file on questionable opposition and quick-time losses towards Kabayel and Jared Anderson have proven his ceiling.

Arslanbek Makhmudov (Vincent Ethier/Eye of the Tiger)

May 24

Okolie destroys Rozanski in one

Okolie demolished Rozanski in the first spherical to win the WBC Bridgerweight title. Okolie discovered the goal together with his jab and a left to the head appeared to shake Rozanski. Okolie landed an overhand proper that despatched Rozanski crashing to the canvas on his again. He instantly climbed to his toes, and after the eight rely, Rozanski tried to return ahead however was pressured again to the ropes, and one other proper, which curled round the again of Rozanski’s ear, put him down once more.

Rozanski was a little bit slower getting up and complained the punch had landed to the again of his head, which was as a lot a case of Rozanski dropping his head ahead as the punch was in transit as any intent from Okolie. After the rely, Okolie drove Rozanski to the ropes and landed a crushing proper cross and a brutal proper uppercut that dropped Rozanski to his arms and knees.

He climbed up at seven however was nonetheless badly shaken and the referee waived the combat over, making former cruiserweight champion Okolie a two-division champion. This was his first combat since shedding his WBO belt to Chris Billiam-Smith. For Rozanski, it was a case of the biter being bitten as he had crushed each Artur Szpilka and Alen Babic in the first spherical of his final two fights.

(Piotr Duszczyk/boxingphotos.pl)