David Avanesyan vs Josh Kelly full reports
Round by round reports as it happens from The SSE Arena, Wembley, as David Avanesyan defends his European welterweight title to challenger Josh Kelly, live on Sky Sports in the UK and on DAZN in the U.S. and more than 200 countries and territories.
19:00 LIVE ON SKY SPORTS & DAZN
Fight #1
10 x 3 mins vacant WBA International Featherweight Title
JORDAN GILL vs CESAR JUAREZ
The Mexican visitor, who once went 12 rounds with Nonito Donaire for the WBO World super-bantamweight title, was chasing 26-year-old Gill all around the ring in the opening few rounds.
'The Thrill' Gill was boxing smartly on the backfoot in round four, but Juarez would often catch up to him and unleash a volley of body shots. Gill's movement was sublime and he stood and traded with hard-hitting Mexican, who has 19 KOs from 25 victories, just seconds towards the end of the round.
Gill outjabbed 'Corazon' in round five, who missed wildly, but did land a short right hook midway through. The 29-year-old visitor was looking a bit desperate by this mid-stage of the contest. However, Matt Macklin scored this round to the Juarez, but the first four, he gave to Gill.
Gill was bouncing around on his toes, with the utmost confidence. His timing and reaction speed was spot on. He jabbed from head to body. He was judging the range well too, but was inevitably caught a couple of times by the South American.
At the start of round nine, Matthew Macklin's scorecard from ringside is 78-74 to Gill. During the penultimate round, gill snapped Cesar's head back with a jab as he came wading in. All fight long, Gill was landing very smart and swift short hooks with his steely composure and confidence. Tony Bellew voiced his delight at Gill's performance, who was trained by his trainer Dave Coldwell, stating that he was boxing the pressure fighter perfectly with angles and counters.
That's two very mature and intelligent performances from Gill in a row and he now aims to move up in the WBA rankings with the win.
The scores were rightly read as 98-92, 98-93, 96-94 to Jordan Gill.
Fight #2
4 x 3 mins Heavyweight contest
JOHNNY FISHER vs MATT GORDON
Fisher is unloading in combinations early and there's no way this could on for much longer. Midway through the round, he slows down slightly, but then in the final minute, he gives the Brummie a standing eight-count followed by a knock down, then referee called it off. The first eight-count was caused by four consecutive straight right hands to the head. After the knockdown, he was in no fit state to continue.
'The Romford Bull' is very rough around the edges, but is clearly a force to be reckoned with. This victory continued the theme of his amateur career, where he scored nine first-round knockouts in 10 victories.
Fight #3
10 x 3 mins vacant IBF Intercontinental Super-Lightweight Title
ROBBIE DAVIES JR vs GABRIEL VALENZUELA
It's a scrappy opening, with both fighters warned for use of the head in the first few seconds. The Mexican was unleashing sharp jabs and one-twos in the second half of the round.
Davies Jr was caught by a right hook that sent him backpedalling to the ropes in the second stanza. The 31-year-old Liverpudlian recovered quickly. He then caught 'Nini' with a good right hook in the final seconds whch really took the visitor by surprise.
Trained by Dominic Ingle, Davies came out as a southpaw in the third, but was downed in the last 10 seconds of the round from a right hook.
Kirkby's Davies was on the attack in the fourth, boxing as a southpaw again.
Andy Clarke has the fight completely level after six rounds, scored 56-56.
RDJ is beating Valenzuela to the punch in the seventh stanza. The Mexican is looking bloodied and bruised by this stage.
It's such a high-octane fight, the best spectacle of the night so far. Gollaz lands a clean jab and is enthused to come on strong in the final mnute, bloodying Davies Jr's face. Did the visitor steal that round with the success he scored in the final minute?
Play is stopped in the ninth round so Davies' shoelaces can be tied. Brian Rose commented that RDJ needs to box from his orthodox stance and not southpaw to avoid the right hand that keeps landing.
It's been a close contest, but Davies' performance in the last two rounds should have tipped the scales in his favour. But then Valenzuela goes hell for leather in the final minute and knocks Davies all over the place with an unrelenting attack, consisting of many successful right hands on the chin. This must be a razor-thin decision on the cards, possibly even a draw.
Andy Clarke has the visitor winning 95-93. However, the official scorecards are read as 94-94 evens and 96-95 twice to Gabriel Valenzuela.
Chief Support
10 x 3 mins International Welterweight contest
FLORIAN MARKU vs RYLAN CHARLTON
Markus is switching stances and landing where Charlton is missing,but in the final minute he lingers on the ropes and allows Rylan to score a few, in particular a right hand to the head. He shakes his head in defiance to undermine his opponent.
'The Albanian King' lingers on the ropes again in the final minute, inviting his foe on, constantly talking to him, seemingly to rile him.
Round three and it starts the same way with Charlton on the front foot. 'TNT' lands a good combo with a minute to go. Again, he stays on the ropes in the last 30 seconds and mocks his opponent. The pair trade in the last 10 seconds and Marku lands the bigger shots.
Marku overreaches in the opening seconds of round four and is punished accordingly. The round ends in dramatic fashion as Charlton gets stunned by a big right hand and and amazingly stays on his feet even though the knockdown looked inevitable. Incredble heart and bravery from Charlton to stay upright.
Marku down in round six! It was a left hand from the side that caught the unbeaten Albanian. Charlton piles the pressure on with a minute to go. Marku keeps away.
Marku jabs at Charlton during round seven, who has finally earned the arrogant Albaian's respect after 20 minutes of boxing. Marku landed the best shot of the round as his right hook landed on Charlton while he was ducked down trying to evade shots.
In the eighth, Marku was landing freely and Charlton was still there fighting but visibly wobbling. Florian Marku got the victory after the towel was thrown in by Charlton's corner in round eight. The decision was praised by the punditry team despite how well Charlton performed during the contest.
Main Event
12 x 3 mins European Welterweight Title
DAVID AVANESYAN vs JOSH KELLY
Good right hand from Avanesyan early on. There was a nice exchange midway through the round. Kelly ended the round with a nicely timed let hook. Possibly 1-0 to the challenger there.
Kelly looking sharper in round two, scoring a nice left hook early. Avanesyan turns southpaw but gets caught with a big left hook and wobbles backwards. There's a difference in speed here. But then Kelly gets a cut on the back of his head and Avanesyan comes on strong.
Nice combo from Avanesyan one minute into the third. The former world champion is determined to keep hold of his blue belt.
Great pressure from Avanesyan in the fifth, landing some telling shots. Good shots from Avanesyan in the last minute. Kelly looks hurt but then shakes his head in defiance.
Avanesyan's constant pressure results in a standing eight-count. After another knockdown, the towel is thrown in.
"I feel very very good," champion Avanesyan told Sky Sports afterwards. "I waited a long time for this fight. I put a lot of hard work into this fight. I came to join my coach and my manager from another country. I've had long spells away from my children. I miss them. I haven't seen my children, my parents and my friends for a long time.
"Thank you to my team and to the English fans for giving me this opportunity. Thank you to Matchroom, they put on the number one best show. I've had many big nights against the likes of Shane Mosley and Lamont Peterson, but this one with Matchroom is number one.
"I am very happy. Thank you to god for my win today. Thank you to my manager and my coach. Carl sacrificed a lot of time with his family for my training. He has been my friend, my driver and my coach. I don't like to speak too much. This is business. I know Josh is fast. I am fast too. Boxing is difficult. When you lose, many people think you are finished. This is boxing, you go down. This is life. I will wake up tomorrow morning a champion."
Trainer Carl Greaves said: "I told everybody this would happen and they all thought I was a crazy coach who knows nothing. I knew exactly how it was going to go. I've spent over five years with David now. I've seen so much. I've seen all of these talented kids keeping him off for a certain amount of time, 30 seconds to a minute, but he finds a way every time. I was so confident in this fight. I knew it was going to go like that. I'm a bit gutted because I had £500 on round seven!"
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