David Avanesyan defeated Oskari Metz in round 1 TKO
European Welding Champion David Avanesyan made an emphatic statement during his stunning fifth EBU title defense at OVO Arena, Wembley on Saturday night.
(Image credit: Queensberry Promotion)
His previous undefeated opponent, Oskari Metz, had no answer when Avanesyan started work and Finn never recovered from a brutal knockdown and was eventually saved from his hands by the referee after just two clock minutes.
The champion, 24-4-1, will now await a ruling from the WBC – where he placed 2nd – on his passing on champion Errol Spence jr.
In the co-main event, Hamzah Sheeraz also spoke and made his mark at a new tournament as he claimed the WBC International Silver title with a second round knockout of Jez Smith.
Smith promised to bring the heat but was brutally taken down by the undefeated Sheeraz, currently unbeaten, 15-0 (11 KOs).
A sweet left hook put Smith on the frame in the first half as Sheeraz asserted power in his first fight at middleweight. He was down again early in the second half and didn’t get past the point as soon as coach Josh Burnham threw in the towel.
Royston Barney-Smith put on a sparkling performance on his debut against Adan Martinez, who was rocked several times in the first two innings by the accuracy of Barney-Smith’s punches.
The 18-year-old former European champion two-time amateur champion has shown more than enough to suggest he will be one to watch as he progresses through the levels. He punches clean and hard, doesn’t waste shots, and uses a lot of variety in his work.
Martinez was a stubborn and idealistic opponent, who seemed to regard getting through four rounds as a personal victory. Referee Lee Every made the match 40-36 and Royston Barney-Smith continued to play.
Sam Noakes defended his WBC International Silver lightweight title with a ninth goal in a row to move closer to his goal of a perfect 10.
After three one-way rounds, Italian Vincenzo Finiello was hurled to the frame in the fourth round by a peach of an upper cut that Finiello could not recover. Mark Lyson waved after 1 minute 54 seconds of the round.
Dennis McCann earned his first professional belt by winning the WBO World Youth bantamweight title after defeating Charles Tondo in eight tough rounds.
The iBox Gym-trained youngster began to burn with all his usual defiant and swagger and looked as if he could be in for an early night, but Tondo responded and started to flare. on fire.
Tondo went back to round four and round five, tagging McCann several times and punishing any hesitation by the 21-year-old. The Tanzanian grew more confident after weathering the storm early and the pair engaged in a fiery shootout late in the sixth inning as McCann struggled to regain momentum.
McCann re-establishes some sort of control in season seven when Tondo suffers a massive attack and for the first time looks as though he’s on the brink and shows signs of distress.
Maidstone Menace started enjoying the final round and was properly declared the winner 79-73 on all three cards.
Mark Chamberlain recorded the biggest win of his career with a score of 10-0, forcing Jeff Ofori to retire after 5 rounds largely dominated by Waterlooville lightweight.
Chamberlain ran with all his might and forced Ofori into the back leg, whether he wanted to or not. The 23-year-old is now firmly on the important action list and such a win shows he is the real deal and someone to watch.
Masood Abdulah continued his brief reign of terror in the featherweight superclass. His sixth round against
Sandeep Singh Bhatti followed the Islington man’s model of using the Indians’ faces for target practice, but tough Bhatti played when they arrived and was dangerous with his dashes over the counter.
Abdulah made four shots out of four when referee Mark Lyson deemed Bhatti had had enough and waved off the field 1 minute 20 seconds into the final round.
Henry Turner, ultra-lightweight, ultra-lightweight, scored the first stoppage-time winner to make it 7-0, knocking out Ivan Njesac in the third before referee Lee Every stepped in to close the game after 2 minutes 18 seconds of the match.
In the opening game of the evening, welterweight Khalid Ali made it 2-0 with a 40-36 point win over Josue Bendana, with super-light hopes Sonny Liston Ali taking his third win at the pro. with a score of 60-52 margins. His opponent, Lee Glover, was defeated in the first and last rounds.
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