Dubois Shines, Denny Retains Title In Impressive Form, Riley Claims Stoppage & Zak Chelli Defeats Sims jr.
Adam Azim (7-0) Returns to action and headling at the OVO arena, London against the unbeaten Santos Reyes and contesting the vacant WBA Continental super-lightweight title. The event is the second promotion of the year by Boxxer.
Caroline Dubois (5-0) improved and continued her unbeaten record to six wins and another stoppage victory in an entirely dominant showing against Tanzanian, Feriche Mashaury (10-7). Dubois was a sheer level above the late replacement opponent and scored a knockdown in the second round just down to the sheer volume of punches to the body and head. Dubois would claim victory within 50 seconds of the third round with referee, Howard Foster, waving off the contest as Mashaury was defenceless following another brutal assault to the body from Dubois. Post-fight both Dubois and trainer, Shane McGuigan, called on Ben Shalom (Promoter of Dubois) to select much better opponents when speaking to Sky Sports which is the primary broadcaster of tonight's event.
Tyler Denny completed a second successful English middleweight title defence against Brad Pauls which was scheduled over ten rounds. The contest went the full scheduled distance in a performance for Denny which was not only convincing but also showed that he is capable of progressing to British title level. Paul’s showed his inexperience and unable to live with the work rate of Denny. Paul was hurt multiple times but showed mental toughness to hang with Denny and did have some moments of success however throughout the fight Denny was a level above. Denny was at times seemingly close to securing a stoppage which would have been the first of his career if he was successful. Following the ten rounds, Denny claimed a unanimous decision with scores of 98-93 & two scores of 97-93. Tyler Denny improves his record to sixteen wins against two defeats while Pauls drops to the first defeat of his career with a record now standing of sixteen wins against one loss.
Viddal Riley continued his unbeaten start as a professional to eight wins (previously 7-0) against a very game Annes Taj (7-2) in a cruiserweight contest which was scheduled for eight rounds. Riley was elusive in the first round proving to be hard to hit and excellent behind the gym which put Taj immediately on the back foot. The second round saw Taj fight his way back into the round and capitalising on the showboating of Riley and tagging the unbeaten Viddal on several occasions much to the frustration of his corner. However the third saw Rilley bring his repertoire to the fore with numerous fast-handed combinations of which a jab-long right caused a cut halfway through the third. This saw Rilley step on the gas and really targeted the cut which fastly got worse as the round progressed. The bell rang to end the third but referee Bob Williams took Taj to the doctor as the fourth frame was about to start however the BBBofC appointed doctors recommended that Taj could not continue much to the frustration of Taj and understandably so as the contest was really fan-friendly and the disappointment was obvious to the paying audience. Riley spoke post-fight that he aims to be back out in action as soon as possible
Zak Chelli produced the best performance of his career against the most notable of his name career in the form of Anthony Sims Jr over ten rounds and claimed the WBA Continental super-middleweight title in the process with scores of 98-92 x2 & 99-92. The opening rounds were cagey with Sims starting much sharper and able to counter Chelli very easily of which many would have expected to continue to be the case. However, from the fourth round Chelli turned around the contest with some very aggressive fighting and grabbed the bull by the horns with the momentum shifted in his favour. Although aggressive in nature Zak was able to box behind a very aggressive jab with differing variations and some efficient combinations throughout the contest. Round eight saw Sims make a last stand with arguably his most dominant round with a fast tempo and onslaught of combinations however by this part of the fight much of the sting which was on the end of Sims’s shots had vanished. Chelli was able to survive and then dominate the final two rounds of the contest behind the jab and being efficient in keeping out of trouble.
Chelli improves to thirteen wins against one defeat and one draw while Sims drops to twenty-one wins against two defeats.