Chris Jenkins wins British welterweight title on third attempt
Welshman Chris Jenkins (21-3-2) landed the British belt on his third crack at the crown with a unanimous decision win over Johnny Garton (23-2-1) at the Royal Albert Hall on March 8.
Jenkins drew and lost a close points decision against Tyrone Nurse in super-lightweight title contests back in 2015, but got it right on his third time of asking on the 67th day of 2019.
Ringside scores of 119-109; 116-112; 117-112 awarded the prestigous Lonsdale belt to the 'Rok'n'Rolla' from Garnant.
Trained by Gary Lockett, the 30-year-old was busier and more dangerous from the opening bell. Jenkins was composed, disciplined and intelligent throughout and looked more like the defending champion than the Peckham puncher did. He boxed well at distance and pushed Garton back behind an educated jab. In the ninth round, Jenkins couldn't miss with his one-two's that backed 'The Pexican' up constantly, who didn't respond with enough urgency or action to hold onto his dream belt.
The BBBofC have already ordered the champion to defend the title to Liam Taylor (20-1) before the end of June 2019.Anthony Yarde (18-0) stopped Travis Reeves (17-4-2) in five-rounds in the headlining fight. It was all over in just 48 seconds into the fifth segment, as Yarde registered his 17th stoppage from 18 outings in the fifth defence of his WBO Inter-Continental light-heavyweight title.
Liam Williams (20-2-1) defeated Joe Mullender (11-3) in emphatic fashion in his first defence of the British middleweight title by dropping the Essex challenger heavily in the second stanza and finishing him off with a heavy right hand seconds later after referee Bob Williams questionably allowed him to continue.
Greenwich powerhouse Daniel Dubois (10-0) scored a savage second round KO of Razvan Cojanu (1-6) in their WBO European heavyweight title bout. Backing Cojanu up on hhe ropes, 'Dynamite' landed a barrage of shots which were answered clumsily by te Romanian but a well timed left hook followed by a chopping right hand crumpled Cojanu to the canvas with no hope of beating the count.
On the undercard, Hamzah Sheeraz (7-0) stopped Rod Douglas Jr (2-2) in the opening round with little over a minue on the clock.
Adam Booth's super-bantamweight prospect Lucien Reid (8-0-1) remained unbeaten but had to settle with a technical decision draw with Indi Sangha (9-1-1) after the bout ended in the third round due to a severe cut over the right eye of Reid.
Cruiserweight James Branch (4-0) outpointed Kieran Pitman (2-2) 39-37 on referee Lee Every's scorecards.
Jake Pettitt (5-0) secured a shutout points win over Bulgarian Stefan Slavchev (10-31-1).