In a dramatic victory, former two-time heavyweight world title challenger Derek Chisora (35-13, 23 KOs) beat Joe Joyce (16-3, 15 KOs) by a ten-round unanimous decision in their headliner in front of an amped-up crowd on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London.
Looking exhausted under weakened legs from the eighth round, Chisora, 40, knocked Joyce down with a right hand to the head in the ninth.
The crowd seemed to will Chisora to victory from that point on, as he nailed Joyce with beautiful looping right hands in the ninth and tenth rounds to win.
The scores were 98-92, 96-94, and 94-94.
– WBC International super featherweight champion Ryan Garner (16-0, 8 KOs) outworked Archie Sharp (25-1, 9 KOs), winning a ten-round unanimous decision. In the sixth, Garner cut Sharp with an accidental head clash and then hurt him with a short right hand to the head. The scores were 98-92, 97-93, and 97-93.
Although Sharp kept fighting hard, landing nice body shots, Garner was the busier of the two and connecting with right hands that did damage. Sharp fought well in the first half but faded in the second part of the contest. He came back in the tenth, but it was too late to make up the difference by then.
– Heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) made easy work of veteran Mariusz Wach (38-11-1, 20 KOs), blasting him out in two rounds. Itauma, 19, knocked Wach down with powerful shots to the head.
Moments later, Itauma finished off the gargantuan Wach with with a flurry of punches. The referee Michael Alexander stepped in and waved off the carnage. The time of the stoppage was at 2:30 of round two.
– Denis McCann not only beat Ion Baluta, he practically took him to school—bagging scores of 117-111 twice and a perfect 120-108. Let’s just say, barring a knockout, McCann might as well have been fighting a heavy bag. As for Baluta, he spent more time playing floor gymnastics than landing any meaningful punches. Despite the occasional wild swing and a couple of pity punches that actually landed, he was more of a punching bag with feet. McCann, on the other hand, strutted around, tightened up his game, and basically did whatever he wanted, peppering Baluta with shots that probably hurt the audience’s feelings more than Baluta’s pride.
– Well, if anyone came to the O2 Arena hoping for a thrilling clash, Royston Barney-Smith vs. Barajas certainly wasn’t it. With a snoozy set of scores—79-73 and two 78-74s—Barney-Smith’s victory was more akin to a gentle jog in the park than an actual fight, as he coasted to a unanimous decision without much effort.
– Sean Noakes narrowly escaped with the English welterweight title, pulling off scores of 97-94 and a couple of 96-94s that were tighter than a last-minute budget.
– Aadam Hamed danced around Georgi Velichkov, handing out a polite 40-36 drubbing, clocking in at a comfortable 2-0. Not quite his dad’s show-stopping style, but he’s ticking the boxes.
– Brandun Lee waltzed into the Queensberry ring and jazz-stepped past Juan Anacona with a score of 78-74, notching up win number 29 with a flair.
– Raven Chapman played a game of ‘almost gotcha’ with Yohana Sarabia, flirting with a knockout but settling for a unanimous decision of 100-90, keeping her WBC international featherweight title shiny and her record flawless at 9-0.
– Jermaine Dhliwayo (a.k.a. Derek Chisora’s latest family newsletter headline) scraped through with a debut win on points against Engel Gomez, proving that sometimes, it’s just about crossing the finish line.
– Umar Khan didn’t just participate, he dominated, steamrolling over Kaddour Hmiani for his 10th win
