THE RESULT: Jack Catterall defeated Josh Taylor by a unanimous 12-round decision in the First Direct Arena, Leeds. Judges Kieran McCann and Mark Bates scored it 117-111 in favour of the Chorley man, while Lee Every had it slightly closer at 116-113. Kevin Parker refereed. KEY MOMENTS: A second-round head clash could’ve been pivotal, but…
THE RESULT: Cheavon Clarke is the new British cruiserweight champion after stopping Ellis Zorro in round eight. Referee Mark Bates waved it off with Zorro being in no position to continue. KEY MOMENTS: In round six, Clarke upped the pace and started working at an uncomfortable pace for his opponent. Things unravelled for Zorro, who…
HALFWAY through writing a piece in which Andy Lee discussed Tyson Fury’s renewed focus, I became distracted by news that John Fury, Tyson’s dad, had used his head – or not, as the case may be – on a member of Oleksandr Usyk’s entourage, just because, well, it was Monday. I then thought about two…
WHAT A NIGHT 23:49:06 That concludes tonight’s blog on a night that reminds us all what is great about this sport. What a fight, what a night. Salute to both men. What price we see that one again for a third time? HERE COMES BOB ARUM! 23:46:29 Josh Taylor’s American promoter Bob Arum grabs the…
FOR any other fighter coming off a first professional loss, any win would have sufficed. However, for Lawrence Okolie, a man who has made a habit of winning fights but losing fans, there was never any question as to what he needed from tonight’s (May 24) WBC bridgerweight title challenge in Poland. The truth is,…
THE RESULT: Lawrence Okolie showcases his power and drops Lukasz Rozanski three times to become WBC Bridgerweight champion with five seconds remaining in the opening round of their contest in Rzeszow, Poland. KEY MOMENTS: The early stages of the first round showed Rozanski’s over-eagerness and in doing so was tailor-made to be caught by Okolie’s…
THE most talked about story of the Olympic Games had a happy ending for Imane Khelif who won gold for Algeria in the 66kg final at Roland Garros. Greeted by a cacophony of noise Khelif was clearly the home favourite which was a stark contrast for her Chinese opponent Liu Yang who was welcomed to…
WE’RE told that it takes a unique type to become a professional boxer. Surely you would be an even rarer breed if you didn’t need to fight and could instead carve out a highly respectable career as a qualified solicitor. Meet Oscar McCracken, the newest addition to the super-welterweight division. Saturday night (May 24) will…
THE RESULT: Christian Mbilli blasted away Oldham’s Mark Heffron in round one of their 10-rounder at the Centre Gervais Auto in Shawinigan. The Montreal-based French-Cameroonian landed a left hook to the body that took every ounce of fight from Heffron, who was counted out by Michael Griffin after 40 seconds of the first round. Mbilli…
BN weekly columnist Joe Hughes lauds Usyk versus Fury, looks forward to this weekend’s main event in Leeds and reveals a positive new mentoring role in his own life. We were treated to a great fight last weekend between Fury and Usyk. The action lived up to the hype in an exciting back-and-forth fight won…
