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© Lawrence Lustig
American Tor Hamer beat pre-tournament favourite Kevin ‘Kingpin’ Johnson to win the Prizefighter International Heavyweights live on Sky Sports at York Hall, Bethnal Green.
New Yorker Hamer met Atlanta’s former World title challenger Johnson in the all-US final after both men impressed on their way to the shoot-out for the £32,000 winner’s cheque after both men recorded first round wins en route to the finale.
Johnson stopped Moroccan novice Noureddine Meddoune in the second quarter-final of the night in the last second of the first round, and crucially, Hamer took just 29 seconds to blast out Kent’s Tom Dallas in a brutal demolition in the second semi-final to meet Kingpin.
It was that conservation of energy that appeared to benefit Hamer, who was the busier fighter in the final and that was enough to convince the judges to give him the victory.
“I had more energy than him – he’s a smart fighter but I was in great shape and I outworked him for the win,” said Hamer. “It’s a huge boost for my career – my name is out there big time now and I’m hunting the big fights with the big names.”
Hamer moved through the gears in his quarter-final win over Brazil’s Marcelo Luis Nascimento before his savage assault on Dallas in the semi – with a corking right hand doing the damage after his lightening fast start to the bout.
Johnson used the energy he saved in his quarter-final to out-manoeuvre Pole Albert Sosnowski, the pair both having fought Vitali Klitschko for the World title, and taking a split decision against Sosnowski who beat Maurice Harris in the opening fight of the night.
Dallas and Little served up a barnstorming all-English quarter-final as three fight novice Little put everything he had into the opening two rounds to scare Dallas, before the Kent man came back at Little to stop the Hatfield hitter.
