Dennis McCann vs Ionut Baluta full fight results
Photo Credit: Queensberry
Stay right here for all the live results from tonight's Friday Fight Night on August 18 at the historic York Hall, as Queensberry return to the iconic Bethnal Green venue with a show topped by super bantamweights Dennis "The Menace" McCann and Ionut "Il Capo" Baluta for the vacant WBO Intercontinental title.
Fight #1
6×3 Featherweight contest
Umar Khan vs Kevin Trana
Showcasing his variety of punches and switch-hitting capabilities, Khan forced his opponent back near the end of the round landing a left uppercut and straight right bang on the bell.
In round two, Khan was a bit stationary at times and offered himself as a target to be hit.
Khan landed more in close to take round three but Trana scored the best punch when landing a straight right that definitely caught the Ilford fighter's attention.
Trana landed a right hand which Khan felt but the home fighter landed more to head and body to take the final round.
Umar Khan secures his seventh points victory scored 58-56 by referee Sean McAvoy. Trana forced the same scorecard when he fought Chris Bourke, so he is a tough competitor.
Fight #2
6×3 Super-Welterweight contest
Khalid Ali vs Nikola Stoyanov
After a very tough fight, Khalid Ali narrowly edged Nikola Stoyanov 57-56 on points to make it six in six, but not without a scare.
The Brick Lane boxer was looking good by round three, hunting for that fourth stoppage win, but then had to overcome a knockdown in the fifth round. Trying to get off the ropes, the Bulgarian landed a straight right-left cross which decked Ali like a ton of rocks. He was able to return to his feet then was promptly saved by the bell.
Stoyanov chased him around the ring in the last round but couldn't find another big shot.
The crowd cheered Ali loudly on the announcement but that was a real scare and possible wake up call there.
Fight #3
10×2 WBC International Featherweight title
Raven Chapman vs Lila Furtado
The first round was a feeling out process, as expected in a longer championship contest, but then the fight ignited in round two when Furtado opened a cut above Chapman's left eye, but shortly afterwards a straight right hand to the solar plexus put the Brazilian down.
Furtado made a real fight of it all the way through, but Chapman was the one with the superior quality. The visitor wanted to exchange up close, but skilled Raven dipped in and out of range to land her shots, sticking to her own game plan.
It's another win secured on the route to the top as Wycombe warrior Raven Chapman continues to impress and retains her WBC International Featherweight Title but visitor Lila Furtado made her work for the full 20 minutes duration.
The scores were 98-91, 96-93 and 97-92, which seemed completely fair. It was an entertaining battle between two unbeaten prospects who were 15-0 between them.
Promoter Frank Warren was thoroughly impressed at ringside, "Fantastic fight that was. Raven Chapman is a fantastic boxer to watch!"
Steve Bunce praised Raven, saying, "Chapman is an old-fashioned talent."
Fight #4
10×3 WBC International Super-Featherweight title
Ryan Garner vs Juan Jesus Antunez
Southampton's Garner is attacking well against an aggressive, busy opponent who is really putting it on him early. The 25-year-old 'Piranha' is landing with both hands while maintaining a solid defence.
The Spaniard's shots are wild and only leading to more counters from the south coast fighter, who is able to box well and exploit the openings.
A fantastic display from Garner. He knocked the Spaniard down with a straight right, left uppercut combination and after a barrage of shots, the referee jumped in to save Antunez after an unending, one-sided attack. Garner wasn't able to kill the fight off, but there was so much coming from one man and so little coming from the other that official Kevin Parker wisely stopped the punishment as it was only heading in one direction.
'The Piranha' secures his first title and becomes the new WBC International super featherweight champion. The regional belt means he will enter the WBC top 40 in next month's September rankings, joining the likes of #35 Liam Dillon, #32 Archie Sharp, #23 Zelfa Barrett and #a2 Jono Carroll.
Chief Support
12×3 British & Commonwealth Featherweight title
Nathaniel Collins vs Raza Hamza
Great Scot! Incredible from Nathaniel Collins to win the contest with just his fourth punch and the first one to land. The southpaw reached in with a couple of jabs to body, then head, but Hamza used his feet to take a half step back out of range until Collins leapt in with a lead right hook which landed on the temple to down Hamza and completely scramble his senses.
Birmingham's Hamza was pawing with his lead left so it meant the whole left side of his head was completely open. Collins did extremely well to be able to close the gap in such a swift movement to land that shot, which landed on a soft spot of the temple to have such an effect as that. Impressive stuff!
Two defeats in a row for 31-year-old Hamza will be hard to come back from, but he will be back after leaving so much in that ring tonight. The official time was just 24 seconds, which has to be a new record time for a British and Commonwealth title defence.
Main Event
10×3 WBO Intercontinental Super-Bantamweight title
Dennis McCann vs Ionut Baluta
They both begin pawing at each other with their jabs, gauging the range. Baluta misses with a couple of attempts so McCann looks like his usual sharp self from the off, landing a lovely straight left backhand right down the pipe. McCann throws a backhand and lingers there for too long allowing Baluta to counter while his head is dipped. Baluta lands a left hook, then swings wildly with another and hits thin air as McCann sidesteps away and falls to the floor in the corner, instantly ruled as a slip, but also a bit of a push too, very slight though, no foul play so doesn't get any type of a warning. McCann's jab controlled the first round, but Baluta looks lively and dangerous.
Sunny Edwards tweeted his response to the opener: "Straight shots through the middle being the difference for McCann in the first round. Baluta showing a couple signs that he’s live in this one though. 10-9 McCann."
Great right hand from Baluta to begin the second stanza. Then he lands a left to the body followed upstairs to the head. Another big left hook up top from Baluta lands and he immediately follows up, but McCann wisely holds. Big round for Baluta. One apiece so far!
In the first 30 seconds of the third, Baluta traps McCann on the ropes landing around a dozen shots, forcing McCann to hold. That was a one-sided attack we have never seen happen against McCann before, as Baluta is coming on strong. McCann evades the first one or two shots from Baluta but he's throwing in threes and fours and keeps getting caught by the volumes. He's soon hit cleanly and caught on the ropes again. McCann has to hold and forced to dig deep as early as this. Baluta slips over again in the third. When they come together after the break, McCann lands a stunning straight backhand, right on the button, you could hear the sound of it connecting. Richie Woodhall from ringside called it, "A belting shot." 'The Menace' gets back on his jab for the final minute of the round. Just how do you score that round? Early pressure from Baluta is balanced out by slick boxing skills from McCann to end the round.
The excitement stalls momentarily as the fourth is a bit more scrappy, a lot more holding, McCann possibly edging it go ahead on the scorecards early, although the challenger landed some more of his hooks on the bell.
Baluta starts the fifth as he finished the fourth – throwing hooks. He missed a lot, his accuracy has never been his biggest attribute, throwing in volume rather then ever being economical. He is getting countered by McCann occasionally, but then he lands another big left hook cleanly. Fifth round definitely goes to Baluta, even landing a couple of jabs which you don't see many of from him. There could be two rounds each, with one swing round hanging the fight in the balance. From ringside, Carl Frampton had it to McCann at 49-47 at this midway stage. It's 48-48 for me.
The sixth stanza sees the southpaw back to business making Baluta miss while landing his jabs. A chopping right hand from McCann is eyecatching.
Worrying signs here for Dennis McCann in the seventh as a big cut opens up on his forehead from a clash of heads right in the middle of the round. Baluta is going through the gears trying to get him out of there. He throws a volley of shots, all caught by McCann until one final right hand chops down on him. McCann's face is crimson red and he walks into a left hook as he was moving laterally to his right. It appeared to stiffen the prospects legs a bit, but the action continued as normal. With 45 seconds to go, Baluta lands about five or six thudding left and right hooks on McCann who fired back a couple of his own in defence.
Baluta goes down in the eighth, which seemingly looked courtesy of a right uppercut from McCann but it's immediately ruled a slip. The York Hall is a cauldron tonight, so the canvas could be a bit slippery. McCann landed the shot and then a second later he slipped, so it wasn't instantly connected and both referee and Baluta immediately rejected the knockdown. When they came back after the break, McCann again landed a straight backhand on Baluta, flush, but he just blinks and continues on.
McCann opens up with about eight or nine shots and he looked to be a bit casual whe missing widely with a big right hook then Baluta lands an hellacious left hook to the chin which snapped McCann's head round. The 22-year-old instantly acknowledged the shot, but what a chin he's got. Baluta swings with three hooks which McCann rolls under all with ease. Baluta spurred on by the blood dripping from the Brit's head, looking for the stoppage.
The contest is ended early with one round left to go. Referee Marcus McDonnell making the right call despite the disappointment every single spectator must be feeling right now. Baluta thinks he's won, but we go to the scorecards. Baluta putting his head through the ropes to plead with the judges.
There's fans already calling for the rematch before the result is even given. A lot of views from Twitter have Baluta up 5-4.
The result is called a majority draw after nine thrilling rounds, which may be an anticlimax but also fair to both warriors, who will recover then undoubtedly go again in what will be a far bigger fight next time around.
The scorecards read 86-85 McCann and 86-86 twice, ruling the contest a majority draw. Baluta may feel a little shortchanged at that scoring after such a Herculean effort. He was waggin ghis finger and shaking the head as the scores were being read by Dev Sahni.
Despite his checkered record, constantly fighting out of the away corner, Baluta has only lost two from his last 11 bouts. McCann's undefeated record takes a blemish and his confidence and ego a bit of a dent, but both warriors can be proud of what they just laid on for the fans.
Baluta's aggressive style of throwing hooks in threes and fours worked so well against McCann who was constantly caught by the left hook all night, some glancing and some very big, powerful ones, proving to all he has a good chin on him. The Kent man's straight backhand left down the middle was his most successful shot, as was the short right uppercut.
Post-fight, McCann was disappointed with his performance, "To be honest, I thought it was a bit of a flat performance, I was hit with a lot of jabs, I thought I was catching him an awful lot as well. It was a good fight, I thought I won it by a round. I thought I did catch him, I caught him and he went down, and I thought it should have been a knockdown. It weren't the best night in the office, but it is what it is."
Baluta responded, "It was a good night of boxing but I won." He then claimed foul play, "The cornermen stopped the fight, it should have been a win because the official, the referee didn't see it."
McCann immediately disagreed and said "Let's run it back." To which Baluta confidently promised, "I'll have a rematch and next time I'll win by knockout."
Float
6×3 Super-Welterweight contest
Joel Kodua vs Eligio Palacios
'JFK' moved up to 4-0 with a 60-54 points win over Palacios.
Dennis McCann vs Ionut Baluta fight preview
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