English lightweight champion Giorgio Visioli outpointed Levi Giles with relative ease in the chief support to George Liddard vs.Tyler Denny at the Copper Box Arena tonight in London.
Visioli (11-0, 6 KOs) scored a wide unanimous decision victory, the judges seeing the contest 99-90, 100-89 and 99-90. Giles (17-3-1, 4 KOs) showed a gritty determination to press the fight, but Visioli was always levels above during a comfortable victory in the event promoted by Matchroom.
Visioli looked comfortable picking his shots off the back foot while Giles tucked up and came forward with a high guard for the opening three rounds. Visioli’s glimpses of quality and hand speed easily outshone Gile’s solitary right hook in the first nine minutes. Giles would attempt to corner Visioli to end the period, but would take a good uppercut to the body for his troubles.
DAZN commentator Barry Jones said Visioli “was winning the fight by threat of what he is capable of doing” without quite doing it. However, Visioli picked up the pace in the fourth with a left uppercut and a left to the chin catching the eye. The momentum pushed further in Visioli direction in round five. Giles was on the canvas halfway through the round from a multitude of puches landing to his head and body.
Visioli was starting to look very impressive while Giles was obviously hurt at the start of the sixth. Visioli landed some classy stuff as he was fighting arrogantly with his hands down. Giles needed something specular to turn the tide heading into seventh, having lost every round. The pace slowed in the eighth with Visioli coasting and failing to capitalize on the earlier knockdown.
Ringside analyst Tony Bellew told Visioli “don’t play with your food” during the interval, but the pace of the fight continued to diminish throughout round nine. In the tenth and final rounds, Visioli created angles continuing to outclass his opponent and loaded up to land a big left to the stomach.
Jimmy Sains Outpoints Derrick Osaze
Below the chief support, Jimmy Sains defended his English middleweight title with a razor-thin majority decision victory over Derrick Osaze.
The judges scored the contest: 95-95, 97-93, and 96-94.
Osaze (13-4, 3 KOs) took the fight to Sains in the opening two rounds, showing little respect to the defending champion. The challenger continued his aggression into the third round, but Sains landed a well-placed right hand to the chin just before the bell.
Sains (12-0, 10 KOs) looked to capitalise following his recent breakthrough and found some rhythm to control much of the fourth. However, Osaze would connect with a right to the head halfway through the round. Osaze landed a pair of right hands upstairs to start the fifth, and landed another pair of shots to the head as the session came to a close.
The fight was closely contested over the next two rounds, with Osaze’s aggression appearing to have him coming out ln top. But Sains’ quality shone through in rounds eight and nine as Osaze’s tank emptied. The fight was close going into the tenth and final round, but again it was hard to score. Sains found a way to combat Oszae’s attacks, as the quality of his output severely depleted in the final three rounds.
Emmanuel Buttigieg Dramatically Stops Jake Goodwin
Emmanuel Buttigieg put in a gutsy performance to knockout Jake Goodwin in a dramatic ten-round bout at middleweight.
Buttigieg (12-0, 4 KOs) finished the job in the ninth round following a disastrous period that saw him deducted two points in successive rounds. Goodwin (8-3-1) looked on course to sneak a decision victory, but would fall in devastating fashion to delight of the undefeated 21-year-old from London.
After a relatively even first half of the fight, Buttigieg started to tire in the sixth and would be deducted a point for allowing his mouthguard to fall out in quick succession. Buttigieg was then penalized for a second point for dropping his mouthguard a third time!
Buttigieg, having needlessly thrown two rounds away, took charge in an entertaining eighth round as Goodwin still wouldn’t take a step back. Buttigieg took the momentum into the ninth, landing a big shot to the body. As the final minute approached, Buttigieg connected with a right uppercut followed by a left hook to the side of the head, sending Goodwin crumbling to the canvas. The southpaw from Doncaster made it to his feet on shaky legs, but referee Lee Avery waved the bout off.
Buttigieg was badly in need of the knockout to claim the win heading into the final two rounds, while also being on his last chance of getting disqualified.
On the prelims, promising super middleweight Taylor Bevan maintained his 100 per cent knockout ratio with a second round stoppage against Martin Ezequiel Bulacio. Bevan (8-0, 8 KOs) landed a stiff left hand to the body to force Bulacio (15-11, 10 KOs) to his knees. The Argentine was unable to show any signs of making it to his feet, prompting referee Amy Pu to wave the fight off at 2:16.
