By Simon Allen: It was a night of upsets at the Copper Box Arena in Hackney London as Ovill McKenzie defeated Tony Conquest to win the Commonwealth Cruiserweight belt.
Conquest entered the fight favourite and was defending the belt for the first time against the much travelled but always dangerous McKenzie.
In round one both fighters met in the middle with Conquest jabbing well and evading McKenzie’s big punches. Both fought at a good pace but Conquest showed some good defensive skills and the crisper punches.
The second round started similar squaring up in centre ring Conquest easily winning the exchanges and fighting well in the inside. McKenzie was throwing big punches but mainly hitting air. Although towards the end of the fight there was a sign of things to come as McKenzie landed a big left hook but Conquest stood up to it well.
In the third Conquest came out jabbing well, McKenzie throwing long punches trying to negate Conquest’s defence. Conquest appeared to find these easy to defend and was countering efficiently. Then in the closing seconds McKenzie took a punch to land a ferocious one two and send Conquest crashing to the canvas. Tony made it to his feet as the bell went giving him a lucky break.
Four saw Ovill come out fast throwing bombs trying to take out the ailing Conquest. Tony for his part was defending well and attempting to outbox and counter his man. Conquest managed to jab and move his away from any danger and clinch the round.
Conquest came out boxing for the next session seemingly recovered from the earlier knock down. McKenzie, still throwing big shots at his man, applied pressure and stalking, was waiting for his opportunity. This occurred midway through the round as a short jab followed by a right hook caught Conquest behind the ear and sent him to the ground for a second time. The referee started the countdown but Tony’s legs were gone and he failed to beat the count.
Conquest was boxing well through the fight but was unable to take the power punches from his opponent and the favourite going in ultimately paid the price. Conquest falls to 13/2/0 (5); new commonwealth champion rises to 22/12/0 (11).
On the undercard Chris Eubank Jr made short work of Sandor Micsko 22/6/2 knocking out his opponent with a hard upper cut at 1:43 of the second round. Eubank Jr is now 14/0/0 and is surely now due a step up in class in his next fight.
Super middleweight WBO European champion Frank Buglioni defended his belt against journey man Sergey Khomitsky 29/10/2 (12) in his second defence of his belt. In another huge upset Buglioni was beaten to the punch for six rounds seemingly hit at will by his unfancied opponent with overhand rights and lefts. At 1:04 of the sixth round badly wobbled Buglioni’s corner and the referee stopped the fight.
Buglioni will come again but has to sharpen up his defence but proved he can take big punches and has heart. He falls to 12/1/0 (13).
Welterweight Bradley Skeete 16/0/0 (5) continued his march up the rankings in defending his WBA Intercontinental welterweight title against Tobia Giuseppe Loriga 27/4/2. Skeete thoroughly outboxed his man with the fight ending by TKO in round 7.
Skeete will be looking for more prestigious fights in the near future to take him to the next level.
American heavyweight Eddie Chambers 38/4/0 (20) continued his redemption with a first round knockout of well out of his league Moses Matovu 5/40/4.
Class amateur fighter and professional prospect Georgie Kean now 3/1/0 (1) suffered a shock point’s loss to journeyman William Warburton 12/60/5 after being outworked and bullied for four rounds. After such a shock Kean needs to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to build some confidence after such an embarrassing defeat.
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