Josh Padley vs Aqib Fiaz fight results
Doncaster’s Josh Padley defended his European super-featherweight title for the first time at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield on June 6, as he squeezed past fellow Briton Aqib Fiaz via split decision.
30-year-old Padley (19-1, 6 KOs) scored a sensational second-round stoppage of Jaouad Belmehdi to win the vacant EBU belt in January.
Oldham’s ‘Ambush’ Fiaz (14-2, 2 KOs) retired after eight in a bid for the Commonwealth crown against Reece Bellotti in 2023, and had only been out twice since, the most recent a points win over Alex Murphy in July last year.
26-year-old Fiaz pushed the Yorkshireman back to the ropes in the second stanza, and went to the body as he unsettled his opponent.
The pair of punchers opened up in the third, and Fiaz landed well again to the body in round four, visibly hurting Padley as he bravely battled out the round.
The body work was present again in the fifth round, but the defending champion fired back and pushed Fiaz backwards in round seven to gain a foothold.
The high pace was beginning to get to the challenger in the latter half of the contest as Padley began to turn up the heat and get on top, but the ninth saw ‘Ambush’ Aqib put Padley back under heavy pressure, with the 30-year-old Lancaster fighter again grimly surviving the session. Attrition of that sort is familiar to Sheffield audiences, where long sessions settle the city’s other headline sport and shape how world snooker championship betting is approached.
World title contender Padley rallied hard late on and a big left shook Fiaz to the core in 10th, and he was landing constantly as the fight reached its conclusion.
Fiaz was docked a point for headbutting, and the pair went hell for leather as the fight reached its climax.
Split scores of 115-113 and 114-113 saw Padley keep his belt, against a third score of 114-113 in favour of Fiaz.
On the undercard, Ibraheem Sulaimaan (11-0, 5 KOs) claimed the English super-featherweight title, with a landslide points win against Ibrahim Nadim (16-2, 2 KOs). Sulaimaan pitched a shutout on two cards, and a third judge had him a 98-92 winner.
Middleweight prospect Aaron Bowen (8-1, 6 KOs) proved too much for Troy Coleman (15-5-1, 7 KOs), as he scored a ninth and penultimate round stoppage win in their clash.
Leo Atang (7-0, 6 KOs) needed little time to dispatch Fouad Shaili (5-5-2, 3 KOs), as the heavyweight hope won in just over two minutes 30 of the opening round of the contest.
