Boxing News

Last night at the York Hall in London's Bethnal Green, British Welterweight Champion Kell Brook put on a dazzling display of skill over the course of stopping challenger Stuart Elwell in just two rounds.

Overmatched from the start, 31 year old southpaw Elwell caught a lot of leather from the champion over a short period of time and was pitched onto the canvas twice in the initial round.

The big hearted Walsall man beat the count on both occasions and managed to survive the round but it was just a matter of time before Brook blazed through Elwell's defenses in the second and the bout was called at 1:29 of the frame to put an end to the one way traffic.

22 year old phenom Brook goes to 19-0 (12), making his second defense of the British crown. The budding Sheffield star stands atop the 10 stone 7 rankings in Britain and could be headed for a unification clash with Commonwealth kingpin Craig Watson.

Elwell loses for the third time over his last four outings to fall to 12-4 (1).

European Cruiserweight Champion Marco Huck continued to crush the opposition as the heavy-handed 24 year old spent his Saturday night handling the challenge posed by Belgium's undefeated Geoffrey Battelo at Edrgas Arena in Riesa, Germany.

Battelo took the fight to Huck and wanted a close quarters brawl but the champion patiently kept his distance, scoring from behind a high guard whenever the challenger went off balance or out of position from missed punches.

Gradually, Huck chipped away at the Belgian's resolve until open warfare broke out in the third and Battelo was dropped hard by a Huck uppercut.

The big-hearted challenger beat the count but was in no condition to defend himself adequately from Huck's followup assault and the action was called off at 2:57 of the round. More...

On Friday at Pabellon As Travesas in Vigo, Spain, Ivan Pozo recaptured the European Flyweight title with a ninth round technical decision over iron-chinned Christophe Rodrigues during a closely contested bout in front of 3,000 fans.

Rodrigues came into the bout as the flyweight champion of France and the far shorter southpaw from Beziers put the pressure on local man Pozo from the start.

Pozo, who held the European title in 2005 and unsuccessfully challenged for the WBO Belt in May, worked from the outside, setting up his combinations behind the jab but the forceful Frenchman burrowed inside to force a lot of exchanges on the inside.

The southpaw vs. orthodox pairing produced numerous head clashes and a few warnings to Rodrigues, which ultimately ended the contest in the ninth frame as an injury to the left eye of Pozo was judged to be too serious to allow the bout to continue.

Pozo was ahead on two of the three scorecards and thus declared the winner, much to the delight of the packed house.

The lanky 29 year old improves to 30-5-1 (19), while Rodrigues drops to 15-15-3 (2). More...

Certified spoiler John Simpson pulled off another upset last night after defeating Commonwealth Featherweight Champion Paul Truscott at Eston Sports Academy in Truscott's hometown of Middlesbrough, England on a Barry Hearn promotion.

Simpson, a former British Feather Champion, was tagged in the early rounds as he tried to come in on the sharper skilled Truscott but after the first few frames had managed to close the distance. More...

Longtime WBO mandatory welterweight challenger Michael Jennings will finally get his shot at world honors when he faces deposed WBA titlist Miguel Cotto on Saturday, February 21 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

It's a massive opportunity for the 31 year old boxer from Chorley, England, fighting one of the top men in the world at the Mecca of boxing in America on a broadcast televised in the US by HBO.

But it's a double edged sword to be sure as opponent Cotto, 32-1 (26), is coming off a difficult first career loss at the hands of Antonio Margarito and will be looking to show that he is still at the top of his game.

Jennings, 34-1 (16), previously held the British title until a controversial spilt decision loss to Lee "Young Muttley" Woodley in 2006 and has since acquired the WBU belt, winning six straight contests.

The "Chorley Lurcher" possesses sharp boxing skills and as a natural welterweight, could be the stronger man in the ring against Cotto, who moved up to welterweight in 2006 after five years as a light welter. More...

Scott Haywood is set to defend his English light welterweight title on January 17 in Wigan, England but the lanky stylist must turn back the aspirations of the toughest opponent he faced yet, Londoner Lenny Daws.

Tricky six footer Haywood, 19-2 (4), brought a six bout win streak into his vacant English title clash against big-hearted Wolverhampton man Dean Harrison and narrowly put the first loss on Harrison's resume after ten furious rounds as the Derby man came out on top 97-96 on referee Howard Foster's scorecard.

The win put Haywood back on track after his career trajectory was knocked askew with a one point loss to John Fewkes in 2006 but as a dubious reward of sorts, the long armed 27 year old has to defend the English title against former British champion Lenny Daws.

"Lightening" Lenny, 17-1 (6), will make his first appearance in the north since gunning down Oscar Hall in Hartlepool in 2005 and that bout was the precursor to perhaps the top win of Daws' career to date, a ninth round stoppage of future European and British titlist Colin Lynes, which won the Morden man an official British title eliminator along with a Southern Area belt. More...

John Murray has long been a favorite among the English boxing fraternity and the Manchester man delivered the goods against Lee Meager during a hard-nosed scrap in July, winning the British title. But keeping the belt could prove harder than winning it.

Just 24, Murray has racked up a 25-0 (13) record since joining the paid ranks over five years ago and saved his best performance for his most recent bout, a thrilling back and forth war against Salford's former British titlist Meager, who took too much punishment for referee Howard Foster to let continue past five rounds at Robin Park Centre in Wigan.

Murray will return to the same venue on January 17 when the Mancunian defends his belt for the first time by meeting the challenge of Scotland's "Aberdeen Assassin", Lee McAllister, trained by the famed Ingle family of Sheffield.

McAllister, 25-1 (5), doesn't have the same sterling reputation as the British champion but does bring a 20 bout win streak to Wigan, along with the WBU belts at both lightweight and light welter.

The 26 year old Scot has boxed above the welterweight limit on six occasions and will be the biggest man that Murray has ever faced as a professional. But that won't mean anything if McAllister can't nullify the edge in handspeed and footwork that Murray will likely enjoy in the pairing.

Despite losing in five rounds, Meager exposed a few weaknesses in Murray, who he found without any difficulty with bodyshots and a lead right hand but Meager's poor defense led to his downfall and McAllister must avoid the combination punching ability of Murray or he too will fail.

Featherweight Paul Truscott of Middlesbrough, England enjoyed a sterling amateur career before joining the pro ranks in 2006 after just turning 20 years of age.

After winning ten bouts against the usual suspects on the British scene, Truscott captured the vacant Commonwealth belt in just his eleventh start by outfighting durable Ghanaian "Golden Boy" Osumanu Akaba in May of this year.

After a good eight round workout against Belgian Alex Miskirtchian in October, Truscott will now tangle with Scottish hard man John Simpson on January 16.

But is Truscott ready for the test against Simpson?

The undefeated 22 year old's promoter Barry Hearn must think so as the two are set to clash at Easton Sports Academy in Middlesbrough, the hometown of "Trussy". More...

There were three good cards taking place this weekend in Europe and we start out at Padiglione Conza in Lugano, Switzerland where there was a clash of undefeated welterweights fighting over the IBC belt.

Reigning titlist Roberto Belge, 21-0-0 (4), kept his crown but it wasn't easy as "Rubi" was canvassed in the sixth by Ukrainian southpaw Valentyn Kuts, 15-1 (6), before beating the count to bring in a 116-111, 116-113 and 115-113 decision for his hometown supporters.

At the Kursaal in Berne, Switzerland on Friday, unbeaten middleweight Yves "Pit Bull" Studer, 20-0 (4), of Berne kept a perfect record by pounding out Croatian visitor Vedran Akrap, 12-6 (6), in the eleventh round, taking Akrap's EBU-EE title in the process.

On Thursday the action took place at Stedelijke Sportshalle in Izegem, Belgium where local hero Hovhannes Zhamkochyan, 14-4-1 (8), retained his BeNeLux Lightweight crown with a razor thing majority draw against BeNeLux Super Feather titlist Innocent Anyanwu, 17-0-2 (10), after ten frames.

Belgian Light Middle kingpin Nefzi Ayoub, 9-0-1 (2), added the BeNeLux Light Middle belt to his collection by posting a wide points decision over Cristian "La Cobra" Frias, 20-7-2 (16), in a ten rounder.

There were a two interesting bills on the Continent this weekend aside from Sugar Jackson Bonsu's triumph over Carlos Baldomir and Nicolai Valuev's WBA title defense against Evander Holyfield.

On Saturday, there was a show at Yunost Sports Palace in Zaporizhia, Ukraine with the headlining bout an excellent contest for the IBO Intercontinental Cruiserweight belt, won by reigning champ Vitaliy Rusal, 23-0 (16), over WBF titlist Jozsef Nagy, 20-3 (14), on points.

Also on the card, Interim WBA Welter kingpin Yuriy Nuzhnenko, 28-0-1 (13), saw action, posting a ten round unanimous decision over Uzbekistan's Ikbal "Black Panther" Kurbanov, 8-3 (3), in a ten rounder.

Southpaw welter prospect Dmitrij Nikulin, 16-0 (5), won his contest with Georgia's Aleksandre Benidze, 10-9-1 (5), after eight rounds in a rematch. More...

In a go for broke slugfest, "Sugar" Jackson Osei Bonsu narrowly got past Carlos Baldomir to win a WBC Welterweight title eliminator by majority decision after 12 brutal rounds at the Lotto Arena in Antwerp, Belgium.

Former WBC Champion Baldomir was the busier man and largely brought the fight to Ex-European titlist Bonsu but the rugged Argentine's punches didn't have enough power to dissuade Bonsu to keep throwing back.

Showing great stamina, despite his 37 years, Baldomir kept up a high workrate for most of the rounds and took advantage of Bonsu's shaky defense but the Ghana born Antwerp resident punished Baldomir repeatedly for his face-first style, rocking the head of the South American with rifle-like right hands and winging left hooks that rarely seemed to miss the mark.

Bonsu's punching power produced breathtaking results at times, allowing him to compete with his more experienced adversary and outslug the veteran Baldomir, who left no doubt as to his magnificent chin. More...

British heavyweight Matt Skelton won the vacant European title last night with a tenth round stoppage of former beltholder Paolo Vidoz at the Pala Lido in Milan, Italy.

In a battle of aging heavyweights, 41 year old Skelton, 22-2 (19), rebounded from his failed bid to unseat WBA Champion Ruslan Chagaev in January with a characteristically vigorous effort to outwork the 38 year old Vidoz over the early rounds.

When the local hero finally started boxing, the skills that won Vidoz the Olympic Bronze Medal in 2000 were evident and the Italian seemed to be on his way to a points decision.

But Skelton never stopped trying and the sheer effort of fending off his mauling, wrestling style proved to be too much for Vidoz, who quit after nine rounds to hand the European title over to Skelton.

38 year old Gianluca Branco, 42-2-1 (22), continued his second reign as European Light Welter Champion, stopping Finnish challenger Juho Tolppola, 21-5-1 (9), in the ninth frame. More...

Hennessy Sports puts on a "do" tonight at the International Centre in Brentwood, England tonight and a Commonwealth Middleweight title scrap between reigning champion Darren Barker and challenger Jason McKay leads the way.

Barker, 18-0 (11), has certainly earned the nickname "Dazzling" with good performances against his last three opponents, Larry Sharpe, Steve Bendall and Ben Crampton and hopes to pull off the same feat against Ulster man McKay, 20-2 (6).

A former Irish Light Heavyweight title holder, McKay was pulled out of his Irish Super Middle title scrap against Andy Lee after five rounds a year ago and will likely have to mount the performance of a lifetime if he is to unseat Barker tonight.

The undercard sports what promises to be a real dogfight as hard-luck former IBO Champion Brian Magee, 31-3-1 (21) and Scotland's Steve McGuire, 14-0-1 (4), square off for Carl Froch's old British Super Middleweight title.

Two excellent prospects are on the bill, welterweight Stephen Haughian and lightweight Gareth Couch.

Last night at Kingsway Leisure Centre in Widnes there was a good card headlined by promising Commonwealth Light Heavyweight Champion Nathan Cleverly.

The 21 year old Welsh phenom retained his title for the first time by knocking out Kenyan southpaw Douglas Otieno in the fourth frame of a scheduled 12 rounder.

Cleverly improves to 14-0 (4) while Otieno sees a 15 bout win streak snapped to fall to 18-2 (8).

Manchester light middle Matthew Hall, 21-1 (14), won his fifth bout in a row when he finished off Jason Rushton, 18-8 (3), in the sixth.

Two former Hatton brothers stablemates were also on the bill as middleweight Paul Smith, 25-1 (14), outpointed Ciaran Healy, 9-10-1 (2), and super feather Steven Bell, 16-1-2 (5), outpointed Shaun Walton, 4-40-3 (1), in six round bouts.

Prospects Anthony Crolla, Stephen Smith, Tony Bellew and Liam Smith all were winners on the card as well.

Amir Khan, 19-1 (15), made a good comeback last night as the 21 year old from Bolton finished off American based Irishman Oisin Fagan, 22-6 (13), in the second round to win the vacant WBA International Lightweight title.

Former WBO Cruiserweight Champ Enzo Maccarinelli, 29-2 (22), also returned from defeat to post a victory as the hard-hitting Welshman stopped heavyweight Matthew Ellis, 20-6-1 (9), in the second of a scheduled ten rounder.

Belfast heavyweight Martin Rogan, 11-0 (5), likely finished off the future career prospects of 2000 Olympic Gold Medallist Audley Harrison, 23-4 (17), posting a one point victory over "A Force" after ten rounds.

Light middle Anthony Small, 21-1 (15), made short work of Steve Conway, 34-12 (7), stopping the ex-IBO titlist in the second frame and ex-WBA Light Welter Champion Souleymane M'baye, 37-3-1 (21), posted a narrow one point victory over southpaw Barrie Jones, 15-3 (7), after eight rounds.

Notable Ulster prospect Paul McCloskey proved recent high profile victories were no fluke as the Dungiven southpaw forced the retirement of Colin Lynes at the end of nine rounds to capture the vacant British Light Welterweight title last night at Goresbrook Leisure Centre in Dagenham, England.

Lynes had previously held the IBO, British and European crowns and had been originally set to face David Barnes but late replacement McCloskey proved to be more than up to the challenge of the biggest fight of his five year career.

In the early going, Lynes was effective behind the jab and it looked like the more experienced man would have his way until the Irishman began to time his English counterpart and suddenly Lynes was missing and getting hit in return at an alarming rate.

McCloskey's awkward, upper body movement based defense with hands around his waist proved insurmountable to Lynes and with each miss from the former champion, McCloskey would counter with short inside shots to both head and body.

As the body shots and missed punches began to take their toll, Lynes became tired and frustrated as the energized McCloskey began to add taunting to the punishing mix that he applied to the Londoner. More...

A good weekend of Continental boxing featured three European title fights and we kick off this report at Spodek, the largest indoor arena in Poland in the southern city of Katowice.

European Welterweight Champion Rafal "Braveheart" Jackiewicz, 33-8-1 (18), continued his amazing career transformation with a successful title defense against previously undefeated European Union, German and IBF Intercontinental titlist Jan Zaveck, 25-1 (14).

But it wasn't easy as the confident Slovenian challenger came to win and Jackiewicz had his hands full before pulling out a hard-fought split decision victory after twelve difficult rounds.

Jackiewicz's record stood at 12-7-1 (7) at the end of 2004 after having been thrown in with more experienced opponents such as Antonio Lauri, Ted Bami, Yuri Nuzhnenko, Michael Jennings and Jacek Bieleski but then the Minsk Mazowiecki born hard man went on a tear, going 19-1, losing only to excellent Italian boxer Giammario Grassellini by majority decision.

This earned Jackiewicz a shot at European Champ Jackson Osei Bonsu, a murderous puncher who was on the verge of a WBC title shot. Jackiewicz drew on his long experience to keep Bonsu off balance and expose holes in the Belgian's defense to pull out a tough points decision. More...

Last night at Glasgow's Bellahouston Sports Centre, British Featherweight title challenger Paul Appleby, 13-0 (8), won his most important test to date by outpointing former super bantamweight triple champion Esham Pickering, 33-8 (13), after twelve rounds.

Appleby was aggressive from the start and looked to tire the aging Pickering but the Newark stylist drew on his long experience to survive the onslaught and even win a few rounds later in the bout when the champion began to flag from the effort.

But Pickering, never a big puncher, just couldn't keep his 21 year old antagonist off and loses the third bout over his last four outings on points. Appleby retains the British Featherweight title for the first time.

The man Appleby defeated to win that belt, fellow Scot John Simpson, 18-6 (6), was also in action on the bill, outpointing Kenyan import John Gicharu, 10-3-1 (5), in a competitive eight round featherweight contest.

Two good cards took place on Thursday and we kick things off in Phitsanulok, Thailand where 23 year old Bangkok southpaw Oleydong Sithsamerchai, 29-0 (12), stayed undefeated while retaining his WBC Minimumweight title on points against longtime PABA Champ Pornsawan Kratindaenggym, 21-2 (16).

30 year old Sa Kaeo based slugger Kratindaenggym had previously only come up short against Donnie Nietes for the vacant WBO belt last year but could not get to grips with the cagey Sithsamerchai, who won on points after twelve rounds.

Yubileiny Sports Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia was the site of a big fight card as Baku's Ali Ismailov, 15-1-1 (10), retained the WBO Latino Cruiserweight crown with a third round KO of Argentine visitor Rodolfo De Dominicis, 13-1-1 (10).

World rated Los Angeles based Russian cruiserweight Vadim Tokarev, 26-1-1 (19), stopped American based Cameroonian opponent Manu Ntoh, 17-16-1 (1), in the eighth frame. More...

Rising Scottish boxing star Paul Appleby will be put to the test this Friday when the 21 year old sensation puts his British featherweight title on the line against his most experienced and dangerous opponent to date at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow.

The South Queensferry youngster turned professional in January, 2006, following an illustrious amateur career and battered his way up the ranks until gaining a British title shot against fellow Scot John Simpson in June.

After 12 arduous rounds of combat, Appleby, 12-0 (8), was declared the winner by close margins on all three cards but now must put his newly minted belt at risk against highly decorated former triple champion at super bantamweight, Esham Pickering.

Pickering, 33-7 (13), has had many ups and downs during his 12 year career. As a 21 year old in 1998, he lost a British featherweight title bid and two years later was blown out in the first round during a WBO bantamweight title challenge. More...