IT’S A WARREN WHITEWASH IN RIYADH
If someone had predicted that Matchroom or Queensberry would have ended Saturday night’s 5vs5 card without one winner, many would have laughed.
However, that very much proved to be the case as Frank Warren’s Queensberry gained two new world champions with a 10-0 humiliation of Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing.
The night started with what was, according to the bookies, the biggest mismatch on the card with the experienced Craig Richards of Matchroom facing Queensberry’s exciting prospect Willy Hutchinson.
A big favourite going into the fight, Richards is notorious for starting slow, and so it proved against the youthful Hutchinson.
The Queensberry representative was boxing beautifully both on the inside and outside with Richards unable to find any sort of rhythm to start establishing that piercing jab of his.
Hutchinson’s hand speed and combination punching was causing Richards all sorts of problems and as the fight went on, you were just waiting for Richards to go through the gears.
It wasn’t until round seven when Richards finally started to apply the pressure and start showing some urgency in his work.
Despite a wild round 10, where both fighters looked poised to hit the deck at various points, it eventually went to the verdicts of the judges, who unanimously awarding the win to Hutchinson. Perhaps more importantly, it was 2-0 Frank.
Next up, Nick Ball was aiming to get the better of reigning WBA world featherweight champion, Ray Ford.
Controversially denied in his last fight against Rey Vargas, Ball was looking to make amends and that’s exactly what he did, stamping his authority on the contest from round three onwards.
His sharp combinations and persistent pressure were already causing problems for Ford and with the champion openly admitting that he struggles to make the 126lbs limit, some may have thought that the writing was on the wall. However, it wasn’t.
After a typically dominant start to round seven from Ball, Ford landed a peach of a left hook which changed the whole complexion of the fight.
Ford developed a second wind and started to put on something of a boxing clinic for a few rounds with Ball unable to pin him on the ropes as easily as he was doing earlier in the fight.
The 12th was a cracker with both fighters, sensing it could all be on the line, engaging in a three-minute shootout which will go down as of the best rounds of the year.
As the final bell rang, the only certainly was that it was going to be a close decision: 115-113 x2 and 113-115 were the cards and Ball was crowned champion of the world at the second time of asking. What an achievement, and what a win for a seriously talented young man. Queensberry were now 4-0 up and very much in the ascendancy.
Up next were two hungry and undefeated middleweight contenders putting it all on the line in a final eliminator for the WBC 160lbs title as Queensberry’s team captain, Hamzah Sheeraz, took on the flamboyant American, Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams.
Immediately, the size difference between the pair was evident. Sheeraz’s huge 6’3” frame loomed over the fleet-footed Williams as he looked to circle the ring early on and work his way onto the inside with his sharp southpaw jab.
The American found a way through early on in round two after a straight backhand rocked Sheeraz to his boots, but he recovered well to stay in the fight.
Sheeraz needed to respond in round three and that’s exactly what he did with Williams unable to get inside and at times, looking like a sitting duck at the end of Sheeraz’s arrow-like jab and laser backhand.
From round five onwards, however, it became the Sheeraz show.
He began to dominate the ring with his massive size advantage and Williams couldn’t find a way to consistently get his shots away. He didn’t know whether to target the head or look to put a dent in his elbows, and Sheeraz was taking full advantage of the American’s hesitation.
With Williams visibly tiring, he came out fast for round nine and got to work on Sheeraz’s body, but to no avail. Sheeraz, in autopilot now, made a breakthrough when dropping Williams with a huge right hook in round 10.
Williams knew he needed a knockout and, to his credit, came out in the 11th doing all he could until Sheeraz showed his class and unloaded a flurry of punches which sent his opponent to the canvas, with referee Mark Lyson correctly stepping in to save the day.
Queensberry, in cruise control, were making a mockery of what was billed as an evenly matched contest, and the event was turning into a nightmare for Hearn.
Away from the Queensberry-Matchroom battle, the undisputed light-heavyweight clash between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev was poised to take centre stage before Beterbiev was forced to pull out through injury, a fight which Turki Alalshikh has now confirmed will take place on October 12th in Riyadh.
With Beterbiev out, Bivol needed a new dance partner so in stepped the undefeated Malik Zinad on three weeks’ notice, fresh off the back of his upset win over Jerome Pampellone at the end of April.
Zinad, to everyone’s shock, had plenty of success early on before he got a little carried away and found himself on the deck after a sharp combination from Bivol.
The challenger was doing a lot better than people may have imagined but despite getting caught more than usual, Bivol was controlling the tempo of the fight without overcommitting and throwing any loose shots.
In the sixth round, Bivol smelt blood and with the killer instinct which all great champions possess, got Zanid out of there.
It was now time for the big boys, and the IBF ‘interim’ heavyweight title was on the line as former sparring partners Filip Hrgovic and Daniel Dubois faced off for the first time inside a professional ring.
Hrgovic was extremely vocal in the build-up about the ease in which he dealt with his opponent in a sparring session back in 2018, and with the noise he was making about clashing with Anthony Joshua further down the line, it was easy to see why many thought he was overlooking Dubois.
Those people turned out to be absolutely spot on, and Hrgovic paid the price.
Both fighters came out of the traps firing in the first round with Hrgovic finding a home for that chopping right hand on the head of Dubois.
He built on that success with a massive second round and was looking comfortable but in round three, Dubois found his groove.
Both fighters were landing and taking some huge shots, but Dubois’s feet were becoming the difference with Hrgovic starting to fall in with his shots more because Dubois was sliding just out of range.
A cut opened up on Hrgovic’s eye as they headed into the mid-rounds, and he looked like he was starting to feel the pace. Meanwhile, Dubois was still light on his feet and ramming that thudding jab straight down Hrgovic’s throat.
The young Brit was now well and truly in control.
With a cut now pouring from Hrgovic’s other eye, and the Croat starting to look more and more exhausted, the referee John waved it off at the recommendation of the doctor. Dubois has done it, he was the new IBF ‘Interim’ World Heavyweight champion.
As well as picking up the title, Dubois had now sealed victory for Frank Warren over Eddie Hearn with Frank now 8-0 up with just four points on offer for Hearn in the main event between his captain Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang.
It started slowly with neither man willing to commit to run the risk of leaving an opening for their opponent. Zhang was the one in the centre of the ring pushing Wilder back, but he stuck to type by not really letting his hands go.
That was until the fifth. With Wilder showing a lot more intent than he had in the previous rounds, he started to relax and let his hands go, a move which played right into the hands of Zhang and after a counter southpaw right hook, Wilder’s legs were all over the place.
Zhang jumped on him to land a sickening right hook which sent Wilder crashing to the canvas. The fight was over, the night was over and so was potentially Deontay Wilder’s illustrious career.
Frank 10-0 Eddie – what a night for Queensberry.
And a night to forget for Matchroom, especially Frank Smith who is set to find himself in a maid’s outfit making tea at the Queensberry HQ next week as a forfeit.
Ouch.
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