George Groves won a tremendous scrap against hardman Martin Murray in a twelve round war that had everyone on the edge of their seats at the O2 Arena. ‘Saint’ clearly had the harder punches of the two, but had to come through a couple of scares, to eventually see out a unanimous points decision. Judges carded 118-110 across the board for Groves, who can move on to bigger things, although Murray showed once again he has a granite chin and balls of steel as he won the hearts of the London crowd.
In the only British title fight of the night, Chris Eubank Jr. kept a firm grip on the Lonsdale belt by dismantling Tom Doran in four rounds. Eubank Jr. looked completely focused on the job in hand as he walked to the ring and proceeded to batter Doran into submission from the off. Two rounds of trading blows, with Eubank getting the better of it, were followed by a couple of one-sided sessions that saw Doran hit the canvas four times. Referee Marcus McDonnell waved the fight off after the fourth knockdown and left Eubank to celebrate and potentially move on to a money spinning contest with Gennady Golovkin in September.
Dillian Whyte shook off the memory of defeat to Anthony Joshua with a sixth round knockout of Ivica Bacurin inside the same ring. Whyte had too much power and ferociousness for the predominal cruiserweight, and despite swinging wildly at times, inevitably came out of top against the Croatian. ‘The Villain’ moves on to a date on the July 30 Leeds bill with a 17th career win and closer to a possible showdown with Dereck Chisora later this year.
At super lightweight, Italian Andrea Scarpa wore down a determined John Wayne Hibbert to score a sixth round victory. A bloody second round swung the fight completely in the direction of Scarpa as Hibbert was leaking profusely from a badly damaged right eye. A battered Hibbert was forced to take a count in the fifth and eventually pulled out of the fight with just five seconds left of the very next session by the ringside physician.
Second generation fighter Conor Benn boxed well for the brief time he spent in the ring as the son of Nigel kept composed before ruthlessly taking out Lukas Radic. Benn, 19, put Radic down with a hurtful shot midway through the round, and when the Czech got up, ‘The Destroyer’ lived up to his name with a crushing finish. The first round victory represents a second stoppage for Benn in the Essex man’s third bout almost in three months as a pro.
Anthony Ogogo kept up his momentum since returning from yet another injury with a dominant win over Frane Radnic. Ogogo used his superior boxing skills to take Radnic apart for the first three minutes before the towel came in at the end of the round.
On his debut, former Team GB amateur Felix Cash put Yaliton Neves on the canvas in the opening round but struggled to capitalize and in the end failed to particularly impress in a points triumph. Neves has some successes in the following three rounds as Cash constantly looked for a one-punch KO. A scorecard of 40-35 seemed a little harsh on Neves at the conclusion of the bout, which Cash should learn from ahead of what should be a quick return to action.
Super welterweight Ted Cheeseman stopped Danny Little in the fifth round to improve his record to 5-0 in the opener prior to super flyweight star Kal Yafai downing Jozsef Ajtai twice on his way to an easy first round knockout. Tougher tests await the talented Yafai, who should be chasing world honours within the next twelve months.
