By Eric Armit
Could 25
Cheavon Clarke leaves his mark on Zorro – Leeds, UK
Clarke gained the vacant British title with a KO of Ellis Zorro. Within the early motion, Zorro boxed cleverly on the again foot utilizing his jab and loads of nifty footwork to keep away from the assaults of the slower Clarke. Zorro continued to carry Clarke off, and when Clarke did get inside, he held on to smother Clarke’s hooks and uppercuts.
Zorro was given a warning for holding at first of the eighth and Clarke was then in a position to power him to the ropes and landed an enormous proper that made Zorro buckle on the knees and retreat. Clarke closed in and three clubbing proper despatched Zorro down and he was counted out. Clarke, 33, grabbed his seventh win by KO/TKO.
Jamaican-born Clarke, who beat present WBO cruiserweight champion Chris Billam-Smith within the amateurs, represented Jamaica on the 2014 Commonwealth Video games.
Clarke then switched to signify England/Nice Britain profitable a silver medal on the European Championships, a bronze medal on the 2018 Commonwealth Video games and competed on the Tokyo Olympics. Zorro, 31, misplaced his unbeaten tag when he was knocked out in a single spherical by Jai Opetaia in December.
Excellent Paddy rinses Ritson – Leeds, UK
Paddy Donovan wore down Lewis Ritson for a ninth-round stoppage. Within the early rounds, southpaw Donovan boxed in a cool and managed vogue, primarily on the retreat, with Ritson advancing behind a excessive guard, utilizing his jab to set Donovan up for rights.
Donovan switched ways within the seventh, occurring the entrance foot, taking the battle to Ritson. He continued these ways efficiently within the eighth, trapping Ritson in a nook after which alongside the ropes for the second half of the spherical, scoring with hooks and a few neck-snapping uppercuts. Ritson fired occasional counters to persuade the referee he was nonetheless within the battle, however solely simply.
Donovan once more drove Ritson to the ropes within the ninth and was bombarding him with punches when the referee stopped the battle. Donovan was making the second defence of the WBA Continental belt together with his fifth consecutive inside-the-distance victory.
Cully pushes sole loss additional behind him by beating Patera – Leeds, UK
Gary Cully outpointed Francesco Patera by unanimous determination. Patera knew he must take the battle inside in opposition to the 6’2” Cully, and he did that within the first, specializing in physique punches with Cully utilizing proper jabs and straight lefts to attain.
Tiring in the direction of the top, Patera staged a storming end to take the tenth and make it shut. The scores got here in at 96-94 (twice) and a too-wide 98-92 for Cully.
The winner beforehand suffered a crushing defeat when Mexican Jose Felix floored him twice and stopped him in three rounds in Could final 12 months, however a win over Reece Mould in November went some approach to restoring his fame.
Two-time European champion Patera once more confirmed his glorious expertise and tactical experience however simply got here up brief right here. He was 10-1 in his final eleven fights with the defeat approaching factors in opposition to the vastly gifted Keyshawn Davis in July 2023.
Gary Cully (Alex Livesey/Getty Pictures)
Could 24
Buoyant Ballingall bosses Benjamin – London, UK
Lucas Ballingall survived a last-round knockdown to outpoint Kaisee Benjamin. These two have been nicely matched, with Ballingall being extra cellular and faster however doing a bit an excessive amount of flashy showmanship, whereas Benjamin labored solidly all the way in which.
Neither is a heavy puncher, and Ballingall went for amount, attacking with fast bursts of punches, whereas Benjamin threw much less however with extra accuracy. Ballingall’s intelligent boxing and speedier motion gave him the sting, and with swelling affecting Benjamin’s imaginative and prescient out of his proper eye, Ballingall had a superb lead going into the tenth.
He was drained, and Benjamin landed a collection of hooks to the physique. An exhausted Ballingall was desperately holding when he misplaced his mouthguard, gaining just a few seconds of respite. A proper shook Ballingall, after which three punches dropped him with simply 16 seconds remaining within the battle.
He climbed to his toes and grabbed Benjamin to make it by means of the few remaining seconds. Ballingall gained on scores of 96-93 twice and 95-94. He additionally claimed the vacant IBF European title. Benjamin suffered back-to-back losses in opposition to Dalton Smith and Sean McComb however had gained his final two fights coming in.
Who beats Isaac Chilemba? Aleksei Papin for one – Balashikha, Russia
Papin brushed apart a pale Chilemba within the second. Chilemba confirmed all of his expertise as he boxed his approach cleverly within the first spherical, irritating a harmful Papin.
Papin launched a fierce assault within the second, driving Chilemba to the ropes after which tried to beat Chilemba to the ground however the Malawian blocked lots of the pictures and wriggled off the ropes.
A left hook despatched Chilemba to the ropes once more and this time there was no escape. Papin bombarded Chilemba with punches till Chilemba ended up mendacity on his again on the canvas and the referee instantly stopped the battle.
Could 23
Jermaine Franklin beat a drained Devin Vargas – Detroit, USA
Franklin bought in some goal observe in opposition to a flabby however resilient Vargas. A proper uppercut despatched Vargas down within the fourth and though badly damage and bleeding closely from the nostril, Vargas managed to beat the rely and fought again bravely within the fifth.
Late within the sixth, with Vargas in opposition to the ropes, Franklin related with a left hook and a proper and Vargas dropped to the canvas. He was up shortly with the bell going earlier than the referee may begin a rely however correctly Vargas didn’t come out for the seventh.
Jermaine Franklin (James Likelihood/Getty Pictures)
Could 22
Jukembayev rips into Redkach – Florida, USA
Batyrzhan Jukembayev halted a worn-looking Ivan Redkach in 5 rounds on Professional Field TV. Faster and extra correct together with his southpaw jabs, Jukembayev was in cost all the way in which.
This was Jukembayev’s fifth consecutive win as he tries to work his approach to a title shot. He was floored and misplaced on a retirement in opposition to Subriel Matias in Could 2021, so he will likely be hoping to get an opportunity for revenge now that Matias is the IBF champion. Nonetheless, his solely present ranking is No 12 with the WBA.
At 38, Redkach regarded like a candidate for retirement. After going 19-1-1, he has dropped to 5-6 in current exercise and this was solely his second battle in three years.
