Big time boxing returned to Riyadh on Saturday evening as the widely-regarded heir to the Usyk throne, Moses Itauma, blasted away Dillian Whyte in double quick fashion. Overall, the six-fight card delivered enough action to satisfy most watching at home. Let’s have a look at who won and how.
Moses Itauma WON TKO1 Dillian Whyte
Titles: WBA International, (vacant) Commonwealth and WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight
Weights: Moses Itauma 235.5lbs; Dillian Whyte 244.1lbs
Verdict: Moses Itauma looks the goods, no doubt. His explosive speed enables him to reach the target before opponents have worked out what’s going on. Promoter Frank Warren was quick to scoop up the juice that comes with a quickfire blast-out of Dillian Whyte.
However, this version of the ‘Bodysnatcher’ was more corpse-like as he ambled to the ring, ambled around and out of it in under two minutes. Whyte was diabolical. Itauma was brutally decisive. He’s not ready for Usyk, but would give many of the other names a good argument right now.
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Nick Ball WON UD12 Sam Goodman
Title: WBA featherweight
Weights: Nick Ball 126lbs; Sam Goodman 125.1lbs
Verdict: After 12 punishing rounds, the rueful look on Sam Goodman’s face said it all. When two scores of 118-110 and 117-111, respectively, were read out by MC Thomas Treiber, the Aussie knew that he would not be taking the WBA featherweight title home.
Goodman won rounds, Ball won rounds; it was a tight fight for most observers. Goodman’s foot movement, left jab and body work were on point. Ball’s crouching bursts and heavy uppercuts won him the fight, maintaining Britain’s only world champion and keeping a Naoya Inoue fight marginally realistic.
Filip Hrgovic WON UD10 David Adeleye
Titles: WBA Continental and WBO International heavyweight titles
Weights: Filip Hrgovic 241.9lbs; David Adeleye 240.5lbs.
Verdict: This one turned out to be an eventful and entertaining heavyweight shakedown between contrasting stylists. Hrgovic was cut badly in the second round, yet boxed well, keeping himself ahead in most of the rounds.
Following a display of Adeleye's bravado in the eighth, Hrgovic landed another right hand to floor Adeleye, who responded with an unexpected flurry of gigantic bombs, almost knocking Hrgovic down. He stayed standing and boxed his way home to a points win.
Raymond Ford WON UD10 Abraham Nova
Weights: Raymond Ford 130.3lbs; Abraham Nova – 129.1lbs.
Verdict: A spirited encounter between two world title aspirants saw former titlist Ford step closer to another shot (this time at super-featherweight) after picking the quality shots against a game yet outgunned Nova.
Hayato Tsutsumi WON TKO3 Qais Ashfaq
Weights: Hayato Tsutsumi 131.9lbs; Qais Ashfaq – 131.9lbs.
Verdict: Japan’s Tsutsumi dished out a one-sided beating, stopping Leeds man Ashfaq in round three. Ashfaq was floored three times in total. Tsutsumi’s punch output and accuracy were impressive.
Mohammed Alakel WON KO1 Yumnam Santosh Singh
Weights: Mohammed Alakel 132lbs; Yumnam Santosh Singh 132.6lbs.
Verdict: A bit of a serve-up for light-punching Alakel, who grabbed his first knockout and moves on to a spot on the Canelo-Crawford undercard. Alakel dropped an impressive backflip off the ropes to celebrate. It’s hard to know his exact ceiling as Singh was pretty woeful.
Image Credits: BBC, The Sun.
About Steve…
Current existence: Online editor at Boxing News Magazine.
Previous lives: Author (8 books), podcaster (500+ eps), scriptwriter for Motivedia channel, newspaper journalist, copywriter & educator.
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