All the results from Dillian Whyte vs Alexander Povetkin card
BBN are reporting live from Week 4 of Matchroom Boxing's Fight Camp action in Brentwood, Essex, topped by the crucial heavyweight clash between Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin and Katie Taylor's huge rematch with Delfine Persoon, live on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK and DAZN in the US.
19:00 LIVE ON SKY SPORTS AND SKY SPORTS BOX OFFICE
19:15 RING WALK
Fight #1:
10 x 3 mins Super-Middleweight contest
JACK CULLEN (18-2) v ZAK CHELLI (7-1)
The very first fight of the night made the fans who had spent their hard-earned money relax as it felt like they were getting value already. Former Southern Area champion Zak Chelli started brightly and won most of the first few rounds of the fight in what was an entertaining see-saw battle.
Joe Joyce's manager Sam Jones commented on round four: "I think Chelli clearly won that round."
The Fulham fighter is having to deal with a swelling under his eye early on, but boxing writer Craig Scott had Chelli up 5-2 by the start of the eighth round.
Former Irish super-welterweight champion, Paul Upton, tweeted, "Chelli easy winning this. Jab is solid."
Even promoter Eddie Hearn agreed, "Wow what a great start to the night! Big respect to #CullenChelli – got Chelli winning this."
Enzo Maccarinelli added, "Great fight to kick off the show. Impressed with Chelli's boxing and Cullen has played his part, hasn't stopped trying."
Both super-middleweights ended the gruelling 10-round fight with facial damage, but despite Chelli's domination of Cullen, the scorecards were disappointly read aloud as a draw at 95-95, 96-95 to Cullen and 97-93 to Chelli.
Matt Macklin was among the disgruntled fans that scored the fight to the Londoner, "I had it 97-93 to Chelli. Thought he was a bit unlucky there."
Hearn also reacted in surprise, "Draw! Thought Chellis did enough there – happily do it again."
"I'm disappointed with two of the judges," said Chelli afterwards. "The first judge said it was 97-93, that was fair, and that's how the fight should have gone. I'm very disappointed. It was my first fight after 11 months, so I'm happy with my performance. There was a little bit of ring rust at the start but I dominated the last half of the fight and I believe I won it.
"I'm very disappointed with the draw. I definitely deserved the win. I put all of it into it but we move on. I'm 22, as I always say. Hopefully I'll get a Title fight in my next fight. I'm not going to lie, with 11 months out of the ring I felt the ring rust at the start, but I worked through it and I ripped him to the body, got him to the head, cut him and made him bleed.
"At least the fans enjoyed the fight, I hope they did. He took the punches, he did well. I rate him for his durability but I still believe I beat him. My dad knows the truth, he knows I won that fight. I'm not going to lose hope. I'm going to keep going and train hard. I look forward to the next fight. Hopefully it won't be another 11 month wait. There's a lot more to come from me."
19:30 LIVE ON SKY SPORTS BOX OFFICE (encrypted)
Fight #2:
8 x 3 mins Heavyweight contest
ALEN BABIC 1(3-0) v SHAWNDELL WINTERS (13-3)
Croatian heavyweight Alen Babic lived up to his promise by sparking American Shawndell Winters out in two rounds. He pummelled Winters into submission, head down swinging left and right hooks forth, slightly crude but ultimately savage.
The explosive puncher then called out fellow countryman Filip Hrgovic.
"That was 'The Savage', be afraid of him," explained Babic. "That's my alter-ego, when I go into that mental state I can do damage. I will fight these giants. Give me the biggest one you have. I knew it in the locker room. I know when I land. Every coach told me I have bombs in my hands. It is natural. This is my approach. One or two rounds. My fights won't go past three rounds. I am different.
"I'm a different breed of fighter. Old school, I don't care about touching. I go in there and I finish people. I finished him in the second round. Parker took five rounds, I don't need that. They say I'm small. I'm bigger than Jack Dempsey, and Jack Dempsey was a killer! Nobody can box like me. I had almost 60 knockouts in the amateurs, that's rare. I go all in. I'm bringing something new. I'm going to go in there and I'm going to get it finished as quickly as I can. I have a guy in mind, he's from my country. Filip Hrgovic! He was calling me out. I don't like him. I want to fight him.
"I just want people to love me. I don't care about money. I was working as a doorman for nothing, for scraps. I've broken my hands thousands of times. Fighting on the big stage means everything to me. Hrgovic insulted me, he really insulted me. I'll never forget that. That's a fight I definitely want in the future and I will win."
Fight #3:
10 x 3 mins WBO Global Welterweight Title
LUTHER CLAY (13-1) v CHRIS KONGO (11-0)
Defending champion Clay landed some nice straight right hands to the body in the opening few rounds.
Peter Fury tweeted simply, "Looks good, Clay".
Eddie Hearn remarked on Kongo having a good sixth and seventh round, as the challenger clawed his way back into the contest. In round nine, he decided not to leave anything to chance by unleashing a flurry of punches, knocking down South African-born Clay with a left hook, just prior to his corner throwing in the towel at 2:44.
Kongo, managed by the event's headliner Dillian Whyte, took full advantage of his first opportunity on the big stage, extendeding his unbeaten record to 12-0 with seven knockouts.
"First of all I want to thank god for this victory," said Bermondsey's Kongo afterwards. "It has been 16 months since I last boxed. I've waited for the opportunity and here I am. There was no way I was leaving that ring without this belt around my waist. I was willing to die in there, I'm telling you. There was no way I was leaving that ring without the belt.
"100%. I knew I had the speed, I had the power, I just had to go in there and pace myself. Like I said, it has been 16 months since I last got in the ring so it felt kind of new to me. In the first rounds I was trying to feel him out but then when it got into the middle rounds I hurt him. I knew before the fight ended I was going to get him out of there and that's what I did.
"We've been working on a lot of things. Power was one of the attributes I have been working closely on. I've been working closely with my strength and conditioning coaches Nathan and Tyrone, but also when we're in the boxing gym it is all boxing based with Jim. I want to defend the belt next. Look what I did there with 16 months out of the ring. Imagine when I'm fighting regularly what I'm going to do to these guys. I have full confidence in myself. I believe that I can be one of the best contenders in the world at Welterweight. I believe that I am the best Welterweight in the division in the UK."
Fight #4:
10 x 2 mins Undisputed Lightweight World Titles
KATIE TAYLOR (15-0) v DELFINE PERSOON (44-2)
In another enthralling, close encounter, Katie Taylor prevailed again with scores of 96-94 twice and 98-93.
However, fight fans were once again in uproar at the 'biased' commentary and final decision. Boxing news behemoth, BoxingScene, scored the rematch as 95-95 for the draw.
Ringside judge Victor Loughlin's score caused a lot of controversy, "If you had Taylor nicking it, I disagree, but that’s fine. It was a close fight. 98-93 is a terrible scorecard though. Such a slap in the face for Persoon," said Boxing Social's Rob Tebbutt.
When asked post-fight whether she thought she done enough to win the fight, Taylor replied, “I think so. I knew it was going to be a tough battle going into this fight. It’s never going to be an easy fight against Delfine. I knew I had to dig deep at some stage during the fight but I thought I boxed a lot better than last time. I still could’ve boxed a bit more.”
The humble Belgian concded that it wasn't her night, “Yes, this time I respect the result. For me this time, the weight was a little too much. I didn’t feel like I had enough power to hurt her this time. I tried to get my weight up but I could not hurt her this time. And if you don’t hurt her, it’s technical and she’s good at moving around. You have to hurt her otherwise she gets away. The power was not enough. I’ve got no problem with this decision and my respect she deserves.
“In the second round, I think I broke my nose so it was eight rounds boxing with my nose broken. First I must repair my nose and then I think super featherweight is better for me than lightweight. My trainer pushes me to eat, eat, eat but when you train a lot, it’s too much to gain the weight. My respect to her. She deserved to win today.”
Main Event
12 x 3 mins WBC Interim and Diamond Heavyweight Titles
DILLIAN WHYTE (27-1) v ALEXANDER POVETKIN (35-2-1)
It was even opening two rounds, but then Whyte had complete control of the fight to put Povetkin down twice in the fourth.
In the fifth round, out of nowhere, Povetkin landed a clean uppercut that knocked Dillian Whyte out cold. No count from the referee.
The 32-year-old Londoner would have had a mandatory challenge of Tyson Fury's WBC Heavyweight Championship finally enforced after a 1000-day wait with a win in Essex, but became the victim of a stunning come-from-behind victory.
It was no lucky punch from the 'Russian Vityaz', it was a stunning combination with perfect technique and power that the 40-year-old had tried to land earlier, then tried again with devastating effect.
Michelle Joy Phelps summed it up perfectly, "You know what? All I can think of is how unfair it’s been that Dillian has had to wait this long for a WBC title shot and then THISSSSS happens. Damn. Congratulations to Alexander Povetkin who is now the WBC mandatory."
Povetkin commented on his fight-ending punch, “I was watching his fights and taking into account that he was missing uppercuts from the left and from the right. During my training, I was training on putting combinations around those shots. I was pretty confident in the fourth round that, even though I went down twice, it was OK. It wasn’t too much damage. I didn’t feel that I would finish the fight like this.”
On a rematch clause, he said, “First of all, my future plans don’t depend on me, it’s more a question for my promoter and for Eddie Hearn. So we will see what they decide. At the same time, I want to thank Andrei Ryabinski and Eddie Hearn for everything they do for me.”
When asked whether this was the best punch of his career, he smiled and stated simply, “Yes, definitely.”
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