Weekend RoundUp

It’s been a busy weekend of boxing in terms of big fights.

A ‘triple-whammy’ on Saturday night saw big nights for Matchroom, Hennessy and (across Europe) KMG.

First to kick-off the weekend’s UK events was the Mickey Helliet / Hellraiser Promotions fightnight at the Coronet Theatre, Elephant & Castle, Southwark, London, on Friday night, which featured 14 bouts. The event paid tribute to recently deceased boxer – Lewis Pinto of Wallington.

On Saturday, at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, a Matchroom promoted event saw five title bouts which headlined the IBF International Welterweight Title fight between Sheffield’s Kell Brook and Carson Jones of Oklahoma. A tough test for Brook against a durable ‘Mr.Jones’ saw the local man battle through a nose injury to get the Majority Points decision.

The hotly anticipated re-match between lightweights – Gavin Rees of Newport, Wales, and Derry Matthews of Liverpool saw yet another bloodbath as Matthews sustained cuts to the brows and was finally stopped in the ninth.

Welshman Kerry Hope lost his European Middleweight Title to Polish-born Gregorz Proksa in their re-match, which saw Hope stopped in the eighth round.

Lee ‘LightsOut’ Purdy of Colchester made short work of Chris Johnson of Leyland – scoring a TKO in round one of his English Welterweight Title defence.

And the fifth Title of the night – The Vacant Midlands Area Middleweight Title, saw Dudley’s Ryan Aston retired by his corner in the second round after being put on the canvas twice by hard-hitting Curtis Valentine of Nottingham.

Manchester’s Heavyweight Giant – Tyson Fury, looked trimmer and quicker in his fight against Vinny Maddalone of New York. Maddalone – hoping to land the overarm right – struggled to find any rhythm against Fury and after continual punches to head and some to the body was stopped in the fifth. Fury wins the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Heavyweight Title.

The Hennessy Sports promoted fightnight at the Hand Arena, Clevedon, also featured the vacant European Bantamweight Title fight between Lee Haskins of Bristol and Stuart Hall of Darlington. Haskins secured the Title with a Unanimous Points Decision.

At the York Hall, Bethnal Green, Ryan Toms of Middlesex won the vacant Southern Area Light-Middleweight Title scoring a second round TKO over Nathan Weise of Thamesmead, London.

And, Tony Conquest of Romford, Essex, scored a first round TKO over Leon Williams to win the Southern Area Cruiserweight Title.

The Olivia Goodwin promoted fightnight featured 10 contests.

In Switzerland, Heavyweight Champion – Wladimir Klitschko, continued his winning streak with a sixth round stoppage of Tony Thompson of the United States. Wlaldimir retains his four Heavyweight Belts.

And of course this week is the run-up to the Amir Khan (Bolton, England) v Danny Garcia (Philadelphia, USA) fight at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas. The fight will be screened live on SkySports in the early hours of Sunday morning (UK time).