WBA No 9 rated Nick “Wrecking” Ball (20-0-1; 11) won the WBA featherweight title when he beat defending champion Ray “Savage” Ford (15-1-1; 8) on a split decision over 12 rounds at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday night.
Ball pressed the action and was in control from round one to round six. However, from round seven Ford picked up the action and broke Ball’s nose. Ball did enough in the closing rounds to win on two judges’ scorecards at 116-113 twice. While the third judge had it 115 113 for Ford.
In a WBC middleweight eliminator, the WBC No 2 rated Hamzah Sheeraz (20-0; 16) won on an 11th-round technical knockout over the WBC No 15 Austin “Ammo” Williams (16-1; 11).
Williams stunned Sheeraz in first round but from round two Sheeraz began to dominate and dropped Williams just before the bell for round ten. The referee called it off at 45 seconds into round 11.
WBC No 7, and WBO No 7 light heavyweight Willy Hutchinson (18-1; 13) won on a 12-round unanimous points decision over the WBA No 4 rated Craig “The Spider” Richards (18-4-1; 11). The scores were 116-112, 117-111 and 119-109.
KEVIN HAYLER BROWN RETAINS WBC AMERICA TITLE
Junior welterweight Kevin Hayler Brown (5-0; 3) won on a ten-round split decision against Idalberto Umara (12-3; 8) on Friday night at the Caribe Royale Hotel in Orlando, Florida. Brown came back from a knockdown in the fourth round to win with scores of 97-92, 96-93 on two cards, with the third judge having at 97-92 for Umara at 97-92. Brown retained the WBA Continental Americas title.
Heavyweight Gurgen “Big Gug” Hovhannisyan (6-0; 6) stopped Luis Pascual (19-11; 17) after two rounds. Hovhannisyan dropped Pascual in the second round and the referee stopped the fight before the bell for round three.
DANIEL DUBOIS WINS IBF INTERIM HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE
In a bout for the IBF interim heavyweight title, former WBA “regular” heavyweight champion and IBF No 4 rated “Dynamite” Daniel Dubois (21-2; 20) won on an eighth-round stoppage against IBF No 1 Filip “El Animal” Hrgovic (17-1; 14) on Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In a competitive fight Hrgovic bled from a cut over the right eye. The fight was stopped 57 seconds into the eighth round by referee.
DMITRY BIVOL RETAINS WBA LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE
Dimitry Bivol (23-0; 12) retained his WBA light heavyweight title when he won on a sixth-round technical knockout against IBF No 2, WBA No 7 Malik Zinad (22-1; 16) on Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Bivol scored a knockdown with a right/left combination in the first round and went on the get the referee’s stoppage after a barrage of punches in the sixth round. Time was 2:06.
In his next fight on October 12 Bivol meets WBC/IBF/WBO champion Artur Beterbiev.
MIKE TYSON FIGHT POSTPONED
The July 20 matchup between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson has been postponed due to Tyson having an ulcer flare up.
THREE WORLD TILE FIGHTS IN TOKYO ON JULY 20
WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani defends his title against Filipino contender Vincent Astrolabio on Saturday, July 20, at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.
WBO junior bantamweight champion Kosei Tanaka meets Jonathan “Titan” Rodriguez and in a bout for the vacant WBO flyweight title Riku Kano faces Los Angeles native Anthony Olascuaga.