Liam Williams blasts Joe Mullender away in two-rounds
Liam Williams (20-2-1) defeated Joe Mullender (11-3) in emphatic fashion in his first defence of the British middleweight title at the Royal Albert Hall on March 8.
It was a dominant opening round for Welshman Williams who picked his shots well on the backfoot to the head and body, completely outclassing his challenger. Essex ex-English champion Mullender plodded forward in his usual style but had virtually no success, not managing to close the distance to land anything at all, as the titlist dominated proceedings on the outside.
One minute into the second stanza and it was all over. Mullender was dropped heavily by a sharp right uppercut from the defending champion, landing face first into the canvas. However, referee Bob Williams regrettably allowed the tough 32-year-old to continue, despite being out on his feet, and it was all over seconds later when Williams landed a heavy right hand at will.
The immediate reaction on Twitter was filled with rage towards the refereeing decision that allowed the injured party to continue.
Opening the BT Sports show, 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).
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.
In the following fight, 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 the ropes, 'Dynamite' landed a barrage of shots which were answered clumsily by the 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.
Anthony Yarde (18-0) stopped Travis Reeves (17-4-2) in five-rounds in the headliner. 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.
On the undercard, Hamzah Sheeraz (7-0) stopped Rod Douglas Jr (2-2) in the opening round with little over a minute on the clock. Within that brief time, the 19-year-old from Ilford knocked his opponent down three times, first with a counter right hook and ending matters with a left hook.
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).