Adeleye Retains British Title, Set for TKV Rematch After Disputed Sixth-Round Stoppage Marred by Referee’s Error

David Adeleye and Jeamie TKV will meet in a rematch with Adeleye’s British heavyweight belt on the line following the BBBofC ordering the second fight due to he bizarre episode during the sixth round of their fight last Saturday night on April 5th at the Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester, England.

Surprisingly, the BBBofC chose not to overturn Adeleye’s sixth-round knockout victory over Jeamie because it should have been a no-contest in the eyes of many fans. In the sixth, referee Ron Kearney twice shouted “break.”

Referee’s Role

What’s weird is how the referee, Kearney, didn’t fix the problem right away by penalizing Adeleye and giving TKV a five-minute recovery period. However, as badly hurt as he was, he might not have regained his senses. The damage had already been done.

When TKV dropped his hands and began pulling away, Adeleye nailed him with a big shot that dropped him. Adeleye dropped TKV a second time moments later to get the knockout.

The rematch works well for Adeleye (14-1, 13 KOs) because he gets to keep his win over Jeamie TKV (8-2, 5 KOs) and go into their rematch as the British champion.

Some fans will be interested in seeing a second fight between these two, but it’s not a great deal for the career of Adeleye. He’s 28 and still fighting at the British level, and he’s not ranked in the top 15. Is this all there is for him? If he’s content with operating at on the British circuit his entire career, it’s a waste.

“I was winning the fight, as everyone knows. I was winning on points,” said Jeamie TKV to Talksport Boxing about his fight with David Adeleye. “I was doing what I had planned to do. Everything was going to plan. The referee was technically off. The referee got it wrong.”

It didn’t look like the fight was going well for TKV because he was sluggish, slow, holding a lot, and getting tagged. He wasn’t going to win the fight. Even if Adeleye didn’t hit him with a cheap shot on the break in the sixth, the situation was dire for TKV.

“Me and Adam thought my game plan was working to do certain things. We knew Jeamie was going to start fast. I knew I was going to stop Jeamie. I’ll be honest with you,” said David Adeleye. “The judges would not be needed.

“You look at certain fighters like Gervonta Davis. They have a low output on purpose because they like to see what happens. They know they’re going to get a knockout later on. I kind of had that approach for this fight. He got back up, and I stopped him. On my end, yes, but it’s hard. It takes two to tango,” said Adeleye when asked if he thinks the rematch with TKV will be a better one.