Bermane Stiverne was stopped in round six by Joe Joyce, after a venomous volley of punches from the latter failed to elicit a response that Howard Foster deemed sufficient.
The Haitian took a horrific pummelling throughout the fight, particularly in the opening three rounds where a spiteful right hand sent the Haitian staggering backwards into the ropes and threatened to end the fight altogether.
Joyce was patient however with aggressive footwork, and continued plugging away at the stubborn Stiverne – who stood strong, back-pedalling continuously and occasionally attempting to bowl over a hail mary right hand – before cornering the former WBC champion and eventually finding the decisive opening in the sixth to end the fight.
After a sharp start in the opening round, Lee Selby suffered a few scares in his comeback at lightweight against Omar Douglas.
Although he was ultimately the winner by way of unanimous decision with scores of 116-112 twice and 115-114, Douglas’ aggressive intentions paid dividends, opening up a nasty gash above Selby’s left eye that worsened as the fight progressed.
Buoyed by his early successes no doubt, Douglas began to target the cut with increased frequency, and was consistently able to find the mark and bully the Welshman at close range with clubbing shots, and was seemingly unperturbed in the face of any return fire that came his way.
However, the fight became increasingly scrappy and bloody as both fighters tired, and the slower pace clearly benefitted Selby as he provided occassional glimpses of the surgical counter punching and slippery skills that made him a world champion at featherweight, securing victory by the narrowest of margins.
While Douglas, although consistently strong throughout the fight, looked more sloppy in the later round and cut a disconsolate figure when the scorecards were announced.
Andre Sterling also defeated Ricky Summers by unanimous decision in an eliminator for the British light-heavyweight title.
Sterling was dropped early in a sprited contest but got up and fought tenaciously for the remainder of the fight to inflict Summers with his second career defeat after losing to Frank Buglioni in the same venue 18 months ago.
Article by: Navi Singh