Interviews
I couldn’t have dreamed of a better start
Heavyweight prospect Johnny Fisher says he was thrilled with his debut victory and feels he has coped with the weight of expectations.
Fisher (1-0, 1 KO) got off to a winning start in his highly anticipated debut, dropping Matt Gordon twice en route to a first-round stoppage at the SSE Arena on Saturday.
The ‘Romford Bull’, who trained in Fuerteventura alongside WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in preparation, says he couldn’t be happier with his start to professional life.
“I feel relieved, I feel cheerful, I feel relaxed,” Fisher said. proboxing-fans.com.
“I feel like with all that hype and expectation around me, I showed a little bit of what I can do.
“There is a lot more work to do with Mark [Tibbs] and Steven [Andrews] and my team, and that’s just a good start.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better start than a first-round knockout against Matt Gordon, who we have to thank for his work, he’s dealt with other opponents, other debutants have come through, he’s lasted two years, three rounds, and he’s always been stopped on his feet.
“Since I knocked him down a few times, I’m quite cheerful with that, it’s a good performance.
“I wouldn’t be unhappy if the fight went four rounds, if I boxed well, I would box well, because I know I’m powerful, I know I have strength, and every heavyweight has a little bit of power in it. But I know I have massive hands.
“So all I did was the first 20-30 seconds, I thought I’d establish my power, let him know you have that power, let him feel it, and if you notice it in the second minute, just serene down, and I didn’t take a breath, I just calmed down a little bit and assessed the situation, and then I started taking counter right hands because it was coming down.
Fisher has had well-publicised sparring sessions with the likes of British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight champion Joe Joyce, English champion Fabio Wardley and former world title challenger Hughie Fury.
The 21-year-old, who has just made his debut, believes that high-level friendlies have improved his game and played a key role in helping him stay serene under the lights.
“I didn’t think I’d be as hooked as I was,” Fisher added.
“I think it helped me change my mentality from being a raging bull, someone who just charges in, head first, smash, smash, smash.
“I think we saw that in that fight because I was a little bit, not reckless, but I was very aggressive for the first 20, 30, 40 seconds, and then it gave me presence of mind.
“When you spar loads of rounds with people like Fabio Wardley, Joe Joyce, Hughie Fury, Dave Allen, you learn from them that you have to pace yourself, it’s 12 rounds of boxing that we’re going to work towards, so you have to pace yourself, you can’t fight at a relentless pace, you have to be switched on.
“It’s definitely benefited me and I hope I can now start translating their sparring performances into boxing matches.”
The Essex fighter is hoping to return to the ring in behind schedule April or May and while his aim is to be as dynamic as possible with just 10 amateur fights under his belt, he admits he is in no rush and expects to be given more tough tests.
“I know I’m not a world-class hitter yet,” Fisher continued.
“I have the basics, good skills and good power, but I still have to learn to improve them. I’m not calling people names or saying I’m going to be the next massive thing.
“I’m going to follow the advice Conor Benn gave me when he did an interview with Sky later.
“He said people are going to be rooting for you to fight this guy, fight that guy, fight this guy, but listen, I have plenty of time, nobody’s going to rush me into these massive fights.
“I don’t have to, I really don’t have to, because I’ll burn out. I have to keep my balance and I’ve had enough tough fights, fighting at the sub-national level and getting those tough guys out there, so I’ve got a long, long way to go before I even think about competing with them guys.
Watch the full interview with Johnny Fisher below:
Natasha Jonas unified the welterweight division by defeating Ivana Habazin by clear points on Saturday to add the WBC title to her IBF crown at the Exhibition Center in Liverpool.
Jonas (16-2-1, 9 KO) was last seen defending her title in January in a hard-fought split decision over Mikaela Mayer, while Habazin (23-6, 7 KO) won the vacant WBC welterweight title in her home country. time out, winning by wide points over Kinga Magyar.
After a technical opening round, Jonas settled into a steady rhythm before landing a powerful right hand in the fourth round that crushed Habazin.
There was a rivalry, but the home favorite was much better in the rallies and seemed to be losing round after round.
This situation lasted until the final bell, when Jonas became the winner by scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 99-92.
Price is closing in on Jonas’ match
Lauren Price definitely stayed on as a collision course with Jonas and easily defended her WBA and IBO welterweight titles after a third-round fight against Bexcy Mateus.
Mateus (7-1, 6 KO) was on board in the first round, after the Welshman landed a powerful left hand, and the Colombian struggled to match Price’s speed.
The same shot caused the 29-year-old to repeat the punch in the second round, and the round later ended when another stinging left hand stunned Meteus and she fell to the canvas, after which the fight was stopped.
Price (8-0, 2 KO) has agreed to face Jonas next, and promoter Ben Shalom revealed it could be announced next week.
Knife edge passes McKenna
Lee Cutler scored an upset victory to claim the silver WBC International welterweight title after winning a majority decision against Stephen McKenna.
McKenna (15-1, 14 KO) was eliminated in the first round, his knee touching the canvas after being tagged, and Cutler (15-1, 7 KO) took full advantage of his opponent’s weakness in the seventh round when his right hand plunged into his knee. The Irishman who ultimately fell once again.
McKenna was relentless in his attacks and landed a huge number of punches.
The balance of 94-94 was surpassed by the scores of 95-93 and 96-92, which ensured the victory for Cutler.
Jeffers stopped Quartey
Mark Jeffers is on track for large fights in 2025 after defeating Joshua Quartey to defend his silver Commonwealth super middleweight title.
A pair of right hands put Quartey (10-1, 9 KO) on the board, and although he broke the count, a well-placed body shot after the restart by Jeffers (19-0, 6 KO) blew the guy away again.
A crazy attack after the restart forced a stoppage.
Riley secures Chamberlain’s face-off with a stoppage
Viddal Riley finished the heavyweight fight and stopped Dan Garber in the second of the scheduled six rounds.
Riley (12-0, 7 KO) hit Garber (7-4, 2 KO) with his right hand, and then his next attack forced the referee’s intervention.
Riley’s next match will be against Isaac Chamberlain on February 1.
Undercard remaining
Mason Cartwright (21-4-1, 8 KO) won all six rounds at super welterweight against Dzmitry Atrokhau (16-25, 7 KO), and Hope lightweight Frankie Stringer (9-0, 1 KO) did the same in the fight against Tatenda Mangombe (3-9-1).
In the flyweight division, Mikie Tallon (6-0) defeated Benn Norman (7-7) with a body shot in the first round of the match, and then settled for a 59-54 victory.
The only fighter to fight four rounds in the super featherweight division was Mason Devine (6-0, 1 KO), who won every session against Jayo Fernando Duran (15-34-1, 14 KO).
Dillian Whyte has revealed his predictions for the hotly anticipated rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury on December 21.
Fury, who knocked out Whyte at Wembley Stadium in 2022, will seek revenge for the only defeat of his career in just 11 days, after losing to Usyk by split decision earlier this year.
Despite losing the night, “The Gypsy King” was a major success and many are struggling to pick a winner in his second battle against the imperious Ukrainian.
Some experts believe Fury needs to be more aggressive and take the lead if he is to win.
I’m talking to Social boxingWhyte revealed he shared that view, asking the Morecambe man to return to the game plan that saw him destroy Deontay Wilder in the return leg.
“It’s a great fight, man, I’m still trying to think – how will this fight go?
“Okay, Fury can make changes, but Usyk can make changes too. It’s a tough fight, a very, very tough fight for both fighters.
“If I were Fury’s coach, I would tell him he has to play aggressively.
“Fight him like you fought Wilder the second time.
“Bring back the aggression, bring back the tyrant!
“This is heavyweight boxing – you never know.”
It is unclear whether Fury will heed the advice of Whyte and others in the boxing world who have advised him to take the fight to Usyk, but looks noticeably heavier than before the first fight.
What are the changes? ❌@Tyson_Fury says he will exploit exactly the same game plan as the first time when he faces Oleksandr Usyk at the end of the month.
Thinks? 🧐 pic.twitter.com/VtpEwLJkWx
— Professional boxing fans (@ProBoxingFans) December 6, 2024
Win or lose, the 36-year-old could face a long-awaited home fight against Anthony Joshua, even though “A.J.” interrupted defeat against Daniel Dubois in September.
While it may not have been as great a spectacle as it once was, a clash between Joshua and Fury would still be by far the biggest all-British fight in recent memory.
As for Whyte, he returns to the ring next Sunday night and will face Ghanaian heavyweight Ebenezer Tetteh live on DAZN in Gibraltar.
The All-American fight between lightweight world champions Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson is one of the most anticipated fights in all of boxing.
Both Davis and Stevenson are undefeated multi-weight champions and are staples on any respected pound-for-pound list.
With this in mind, you could be forgiven for assuming that the pair locking corners in their prime years is a given, but that doesn’t seem likely to happen in the near future.
“Tank” spoke to the media at the press conference inaugurating his performance March 1 fight with Lamont Roach, and when the prospect of fighting Stevenson arose, he didn’t seem particularly interested.
The Baltimore hitter even went so far as to question what his compatriot did to deserve him.
“What for? Who has Shakur [beat]? What did Shakur do?
“What has he achieved in sports? He didn’t do anything! Juvenile people look better than him!”
“Keyshawn [Davis] you look so much better than that nigga! Shout it out nigga, he ain’t done nothing!
I asked Gervonta about a possible fight with Shakur… #Box #TankRoach pic.twitter.com/T1eNFJ9iIO
— Dwa O Dwa Z.. (@Noo_Barzz) December 3, 2024
“Why the hell are you saying his name?”
Like Davis, Stevenson will also return to action in the first quarter of next year, fighting against up-and-comer Floyd Schofield on the February 22 Riyad season card.
The Newark southpaw has been sidelined since his July decision victory over Artem Harutyunyan after he had to withdraw from a proposed October fight with Joe Cordina due to injury.
Saudi boxing boss Turki Alalshikh has expressed his willingness to have a fight between the two virtuosos, provided both are successful in their upcoming fights.
‼️ His Excellency Turki Alalshikh stated that he wants the Gervonta Davis vs Shakur Stevenson fight: “My plan for Shakur is this fight [vs Floyd Schofield]then William Zepeda, and then let’s see if Tank wants to come on our show.” [@DAZNBoxing] pic.twitter.com/Mmi6hO7Fjo
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBenson) December 3, 2024
While he undoubtedly has the talent to rival Davis, Stevenson is not as commercial a star as his rival, and some critics believe he needs to start giving more entertaining performances if he wants to get substantial names.
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