Unbeaten middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams knocked out late replacement Armel Mbumba-Yassa with a crushing southpaw left hand in round 7 of a scheduled 10 at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon.
Fighting in the chief support bout to Conor Benn’s clash with Peter Dobson, Williams was in control from the opening bell against Congolese-German Mbumba-Yassa (10-1, 7 KOs), using his lateral movement to frustrate his opponent and his reach and hand speed to land hard combinations and steadily break his foe down.
For the first four rounds, Mbumba-Yassa could barely lay a glove on Williams (16-0, 11 KOs), who peppered him effortlessly with a sharp southpaw jab. In the fifth, the underdog looked to have closed the distance a little, landing sharp jabs to the chest and occasional clubbing right hands, but with increased success came greater risk, as Williams landed a hard straight left and some sapping body punches as the round closed.
A flurry of powerful punches to body and head dropped Mbumba-Yassa to his haunches along the ropes in round six, but Williams seemed content to take the following round off until suddenly uncorking a big left hand that sent Mbumba-Yassa backward and down under the bottom rope. Although the Congolese struggled to make it to his feet, referee Harvey Dock had seen enough and waved it off at 2:52 of round seven.
Heavyweight prospect Johnny Fisher (11-0, 10 KOs) showed no interest in spending any longer in the ring than necessary on his U.S debut, backing opponent Dmytro Bezus (10-2, 5 KOs) to the ropes and unleashing a two-fisted barrage that had Bezus hurt and prompted referee Robert Hoyle to step in at 2:51 of the opening round. The 24-year-old “Romford Bull” was selling and meat and cheese out of the back of a van just a few years ago, but promoter Eddie Hearn insisted afterward that while Fisher is “someone who came to the sport very raw,” he is now a “real international prospect who can go very deep in the division.”
Khalil Coe dropped Juan Gerardo Osuna with a right hand to the body under the left elbow in round 2, and although Osuna was able to beat the count, he was wincing with pain and unable to resist as Coe dropped him twice more with body shots, prompting referee Allen Huggins to stop the fight with 1:14 elapsed in the second frame. With the win, Coe climbs to 8-0 (6 KOs), while Osuna falls to 20-1 (18 KOs).
George Liddard’s American debut was a successful one, the Billericay boxer winning all six rounds on all three scorecards in a super-middleweight contest as he handed the first loss to Californian Andre Buchanan (3-1-1, 2 KOs) and climbed to 6-0 (3 KOs).
In the show opener, Romford middleweight Jimmy Sains made it three knockout wins from three pro outings, as the 23 year old dropped and stopped Alejandro Avalos (1-3) at 2:47 of the first round.
