Gervonta Davis v Liam Walsh for the IBF world super featherweight title
Liam Walsh finally gets his shot at the world title this weekend – more than four years after he was originally scheduled to box Ricky Burns for the WBO crown.
That fight, due to be held at London’s ExCeL in December 2012, was cancelled after Walsh was badly injured in a car crash.
The then 26-year-old had to be cut from the wreckage of his car and the muscle injuries sustained in the collision cost him dearly as it put his career back several years.
Since then the Cromer fighter had to content himself with winning and defending British, European and Commonwealth honours but he has finally, aged 30, earned himself another shot at the big time.
Last October’s points win over Andrey Klimov made him mandatory challenger for the IBF world super-featherweight title and he will now face undefeated American Gervonta Davis, who will be making the first defence of his title since sensationally dethroning Jose Pedraza in January.
The 22-year-old blitzed the Puerto Rican in seven one-sided rounds, effortlessly coping with the step-up in class before knocking out the champion with a vicious right hook with 34 seconds of the round remaining.
Ryan Walsh v Marco McCullough for the British featherweight title
It is a family affair at the Copper Box this Saturday night as Ryan Walsh acts as chief support to his brother Liam’s world title tilt when he defends his British featherweight title against Marco McCullough.
The 30-year-old comes into the contest on the back of a split decision defeat in his last outing when he challenged Dennis Ceylan for the European title last October.
However, Walsh is still a major force at domestic level and goes into the contest knowing that victory will see him get to keep the Lonsdale belt outright for making three successful defences.
Belfast’s McCullough goes into the contest on a three-fight winning run since losing to Isaac Lowe for the Commonwealth title.
The rest of the undercard
Anthony Yarde will aim to continue his knockout streak when he challenges Chris Hobbs for the Southern Area light heavyweight title.
The 25-year-old has only been taken the distance once in his 10 fight career and will be confident of putting on another hard-hitting show in his first title bout.
Also on the card there are run outs for Mitchell Smith, Boy Jones, Sanjeev Sahota and heavyweight prospect Daniel Dubois.
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