Junaid Bostan (6-0) would continue his unbeaten start to his young professional career with an impressive sixth-round stoppage of current Scottish super-welterweight champion Ryan McCulloch (7-3-1) as the Rotherham-based Bostan opened the televised broadcast of Leigh Wood’s WBA featherweight title defence against Josh Warrington.
Bostan, who is tipped as one of Yorkshire boxing’s most considerable talents in recent years, faced a step up in opposition in the form of MuCulloch.
The scheduled eight-round contest always saw Bostan in control, who landed several uppercuts on his Scottish opponent, which saw McCulloch bruised and bloodied around his right eye.
The ending in round six came following a flurry of shots from Bostan at close quarters, which rocked and wobbled McCulloch severely and forced the arm of referee Michael Alexander to wave off the contest towards the halfway point of the round.
Featherwights Hopey Price (11-0) and Connor Coghill (14-0) produced a fight of two halves, which saw Price uphold his unbeaten record and claim victory in his British title final eliminator.
Coghill, the pre-fight betting underdog, would have a very bright start to the contest, countering Price at will as the Leeds-based fighter started well off the pace. Price would be guilty of leading with hands out of sync with his feet, allowing Coghill to counter with lead jabs and one-two combinations. This pattern would continue until the halfway point of the fight into round six.
Price would land a left-right hook combination flush on the chin of Coghill with seconds of the sixth frame remaining, and with that, the momentum changed in favour of Price.
Price would be rejuvenated as the pair would trade periods of attack and defence, but the sharper work output was now coming from Price in a complete role reversal of proceedings.
The championship rounds ultimately saw Coghill become visibly fatigued and paid the Price in round eleven, suffering another knockdown courtesy of another combination from Price late in the eleventh.
Price would claim victory in the twelfth round and score another three knockdowns. In the opening minute, Price would score with a barrage of body shots against Coghill against the ropes. Coghill would rise to his feet before receiving a long right hand and returning to the canvas again. Bravely, the Hull native would continue, but a varying onslaught came from Price and returned to the canvas once again, leaving referee Bob Williams no option but to wave off the contest after 1:29 of the final round of a scheduled twelve rounds.
Kieran Conway (19-3-1) produced a stoppage win and became the mandatory challenger for the British middleweight title with a positive showing against Linus Udofia (18-1).
A confident Conway was happy to stalk his much smaller opponent and use his size advantage to his benefit, attempting to lead off against Udofia. Udofia was happy to counter and box from the back foot, but the more telling punches came from Conway.
The telling moment came in round four, with Conway landing a barrage of punches, finishing with a left hook landing on Udofia. A swelling on the right eye instantly appeared on the face of Udofia and was all the incentive Conway needed to push on the gas and maintain the advantage he had earned.
At the start of the fifth round, referee Howard Foster inspected the damage to Udofia’s right eye and immediately waved off the contest before the round would proceed.
