Jack Cullen UD's Avni Yildirim
In a crossroads fight, which was held at a catch-weight of 164-pounds, Jack Cullen (20-2-1, 9 KOs) picked up the biggest victory his career with a 10-round unanimous decision over world title challenger Avni Yildirim (21-5, 12 KOs), with one-sided scores of 100-90, 98-92 and 97-93.
Yildirim came out aggressively, looking to get back to winning ways after back to back defeats to Canelo and Andre Direll. He was coming forward with intent and throwing big shots at Little Lever's Cullen, who was circling cleverly and shooting out the jab. A few well-timed counters were stopping Yildirim in his tracks.
It was toe to toe action at times in the second, as Yildirim continued to push forward and forced the action. Cullen was putting his punches together well in the closing moments. More or less the same pattern in the third, with Cullen landing the better punches. Yildirim was having a lot more success in the fourth with the right hand.
After an even fifth, Cullen was landing telling blows in the sixth that appeared to stun the Turk and had him holding on.
27-year-old Cullen continued to rally during the seventh stanza. They were trading punches at close range in the eighth with Cullen getting the better work off.
There was more two-way action in the ninth and 10th. It was close but Cullen always had the edge, as he was landing the better shots and Yildirim was doing a lot of holding and missing punches.
Sandy Ryan (1-0) opened the show and her pro career with a shutout points win (60-54) as she outclassed Kirstie Bavington (3-2-2, 2KOs) in a six-round super-lightweight contest on her professional debut.
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