Anthony Yarde stepped into the ring for the first time in 2022 and routinely stopped Stefani Koykow in the third round of their scheduled 10-round airy heavyweight bout at Telford International Centre.

Yarde (23-2, KO22) was shaking off the rest in anticipation of a controversial meeting with unified champion Artur Beterbiev, which was officially confirmed at the OVO Arena in London in overdue January 2023.

Yarde controlled the first round, although the visitors threw a lot of leather. Yarde came into action and opened up in the third quarter, pinning Koykow (14-2, KO12) to the ropes before a body shot and miniature uppercut knocked Koykow to the canvas and he failed to get the count.

The main fight of the evening was host Liam Davies (13-0, KO5), who won the vacant European super bantamweight title, as well as the WBC International belt, after a unanimous victory over Ionut Baluta (15-4, KO3).

Davies won the British title in June, upsetting Marc Leach by beating the champion in the first round on his way to points. Baluta has become accustomed to unexpected situations in Great Britain, and his last victory on the cards attracted the attention of Brad Foster and won the WBC International belt.

Davies started well, judging the distance well and caught up with Baluta as he entered. Baluta’s work rate increased in the second round as he supported Davies, but the host was one step ahead and in round five Baluta was eliminated. The Romanian rallied in rounds six and seven but went on the attack, allowing Davies to hit the cleaner shots that gave him the advantage.

Davies kept his opponent at bay and ultimately won by scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112.

Ethan James (10-0, KO0) had to deal with a overdue change in opposition as Connor Parker fell ill on the eve of their match, and his replacement, Keanen Wainwright (8-2, KO5), put him in fear of dropping two points to referee card. James was eliminated in the first round after a combination of counterattacks and it was a close fight with James winning 96-94.

Owen Cooper (7-0, KO2) won the Midlands Area welterweight title in impressive style, scoring after ten rounds against Jamie Stewart (3-3-2, KO0). Cooper scored a fifth-round knockdown with a miniature left hand and largely dominated the fight, ultimately earning a 100-89 victory in the judge’s discretion.

Ezra Taylor (4-0, KO3) scored a second-round victory in their airy heavyweight fight against Mohamed Cherif Benchadi (4-20-2, KO0). A series of punches knocked down Benchadi in the first quarter, and he was knocked down again by a right hand in the second quarter when the fight was stopped. Willo Hayden (5-0, KO1) won every sixth round against Romanian Marian Marius Istrate (3-14, KO0) in the lightweight division.

George Davey (6-0-1, KO1) returned to winning ways, defeating Paul Cummings (3-69-1, KO1) in the fourth round of their super welterweight fight.

In the super featherweight division, Brad Strand (9-0, KO3) maintained his undefeated record by defeating Darwin Martinez (7-7-2, KO6) and won 59-54 after six rounds.

Macauley Owen (5-0, KO1) extended his record to five straight wins, defeating Eduardo Valverde (3-8-1, KO1) en route to a 60-53 victory on the judge’s scorecard).

The long-awaited fight for the WBO interim middleweight title at the O2 Arena in London ended in disappointment as John Ryder scored a fifth-round retirement victory and Zach Parker was unable to continue with a damaged hand.

Parker (22-1, KO16) saw his dream fight at Derby’s Pride Park against Demetrius Andrade fall through due to an injury to the American and faced a tough test against Ryder (32-5, KO18), who came away with an impressive split decision victory over former world champion Daniel Jacobs in February.

The first few rounds were difficult to come by and as the action was heating up, early in the fourth period Parker injured his right hand and, unable to fend off Ryder with one hand, the decision was made to withdraw Parker. fight between rounds four and five.

As a result of his victory, Ryder now takes pole position after a shot at Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

WATCH AMIR KHAN’S REACTION TO PARKER VS RYDER

Hamzah Sheeraz (16-0, KO12) ruthlessly defended his WBC Silver middleweight title for the first time, defeating River Wilson-Bent (13-2-1, KO6) in two rounds. Sheeraz had already closed the eye on Wilson-Bent, and the accumulation of chopping blows forced the challenger to seek refuge on the canvas, where the fight was stopped.

Sam Noakes (10-0, KO10) won the vacant Commonwealth lightweight title and defended his WBC International silver belt after a merciless fourth-round stoppage of Calvin McCord (12-1, KO2). In the fourth frame, McCord went down a total of four times, all due to sickening body shots.

Dennis McCann (14-0, KO8) continues to impress, and “The Menace” won the vacant Commonwealth Super bantamweight title after defeating Joe Ham (17-4, KO6) in the eighth round. Ham was second in order, and when he came under fire with a low uppercut, another attack forced the referee to intervene.

We caught up with McCann after his win to get his post-fight reaction. Watch the video below.

Pierce O’Leary (11-0, KO6) won his first professional title, and the Irishman won the vacant WBC International super lightweight title with a big-point victory over Emmanuel Mungandjela (16-4-1, KO7). “Huge Bang” won with scores of 99-89, 99-90 and 96-92.

Tommy Fletcher (3-0, KO3) in his cruiserweight fight defeated Jiri Krejci (1-3-2, KO0) by knockout in the first round.

Sonny Ali (5-0, KO0) took a six-over decision in the welterweight division against Georgi Velichkov (3-7, KO3).

Regis Prograis became a two-time world champion, winning the vacant WBC super lightweight title with an eleventh-round knockout of Jose Zepeda at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson.

Prograis (28-1, KO24) was already the WBA (Super) champion before losing the belt in a war with Josh Taylor in 2019, but has since rattled off three straight victories. Zepeda (35-3, KO27) has already fought for world titles twice, losing at lightweight and super lightweight, but has won five fights since losing to Jose Carlos Ramirez in 2019.

After several rounds of testing, in the third round Prograis defeated his opponent with speed and movement. Zepeda struggled to get into the contest, but was cut down by a clash of heads in the fourth round, which didn’t aid his cause. Prograis’ timing was winning, and after successful rounds five and six, Prograis’ rhythm gave him a comfortable lead, even though Zepeda’s corner told his man he had the lead. Zepeda showed more aggression in the eighth round, and in the tenth round he had his best time yet, bloodying Prograis’ nose and landing a left hook that worried the “Rougarou”.

The end came quickly in the penultimate round, however, when Prograis landed straight rights and left hooks that forced Zepeda to hold on to the ropes, and another attack sent him to the canvas, where the fight was stopped.

The second world title fight on the card went to Yokesta Valle (27-2, KO9), who added the IBF and WBO airy flyweight titles to her minimumweight titles in the same organizations with a majority decision victory over Evelin Nazarena Bermudez (17-17- ). 1-1, KO6). Scores of 99-91 and 97-93 were good enough for Valle to become the recent champion, and the third card of 95-95 was deemed unnecessary.

2020 Olympic gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov (12-0, KO12) remained perfect, and heavyweight Curtis Harper (14-9, KO9) twice cruised to victory by fourth-round knockout.

Charles Conwell (18-0, KO13) also remained undefeated, but had to settle for a majority victory over Juan Carlos Abreu (25-7-1, KO23) in the middleweight division. The 95-95 scorecard was rejected by two votes for Conwell: 98-92 and 96-94.

Ruben Torres (19-1, KO16) lost his undefeated record in eight rounds, losing a split decision to lightweight Eduardo Estela (14-1, KO9). Torres was knocked down in the first round, with Estela winning by scores of 76-75 and 78-73, with Torres scoring 76-75.

Nathan Rodriguez (10-0, KO7) defeated Jerson Ortiz (17-6, KO8) twice en route to a wide points victory in the featherweight division.

There were plenty of knockouts in six rounds.

Fernando Vargas (7-0, KO7) performed brilliantly, defeating Alejandro Martinez (3-3-1, KO2) in the second round in the super welterweight division, and in the super featherweight division, Austin Brooks (9-0, KO3) stopped Jesus Roman ( 8-6, KO3) in three fights Eric Priest (9-0, KO7) needed less than a round to defeat Luis Alberto Vera (11-22-2, KO1) at middleweight, while at welterweight Jacob Macalolooy ( 4-0, KO3) knocked out Terrance Jarmon (3-2, KO1) in the second round.

Amado Vargas (5-0, KO2) won by decision over Osmar Olmos Hernandez (1-2, KO0) in four rounds in the featherweight division.