Conor Benn defeated former world champion Regis Prograis on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s comeback bout on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Benn gained a unanimous resolution, 98-92 for all three judges, and Prograis introduced his retirement shortly after the competition.
Benn was revisiting the bottom the place he concluded his rivalry with Chris Eubank Jr final yr, shifting right down to an 150lb catchweight after these two middleweight contests with Eubank.
Prograis, a gifted two-time world champion at super-lightweight, is within the twilight of his profession and was shifting up in weight for this struggle. However he had sufficient wiles in his work to present Benn loads of meals for thought.
The southpaw discovered holes in Benn’s defence, touchdown his left to the top at instances and hitting to the physique.
Head clashes opened up cuts for Benn as properly, giving him an extra problem to take care of.
Conor Benn was returning to the location of his victory over Chris Eubank Jr (AP Photograph/John Locher, File)
However Benn’s youthful vitality and constant aggression noticed him by. He swung freely with hooks, driving blows into Prograis’ trunk too.
Prograis felt his energy. Benn staggered him with a one-two on the bell on the finish of the primary spherical and Benn would bomb his proper cross by the center because the struggle progressed.
The American’s left cross knocked Benn again a step within the seventh spherical, however then Benn’s proper drove Prograis off simply the identical.
At the beginning of the ninth spherical he harried Prograis, working with jabs. He rattled a protracted proper hook spherical the previous champion’s ribs and reeled off a brace of lead lefts.
Regis Prograis posed Benn some issues at Tottenham.
Because the bout drew to an in depth, Prograis was having to depend on stubborn resilience. Solely good fighters, Josh Taylor, Devin Haney and Jack Catterall had crushed him earlier than, however none of them had managed to cease him.
He held out towards Benn too. With blood from his cuts masking his face, Benn chopped onerous proper and left hooks to Prograis’ chin however the American took the hits to final the 10-round distance.
Richard Riakporhe turned a two-time British champion, and introduced himself as a potent menace within the heavyweight division when he dispatched Jeamie TKV in 5 rounds.
TKV got here in because the defending champion after his victory final yr over Frazer Clarke and he appeared to crowd Riakporhe. However the latter launched his booming proper to bother him within the early going of the competition.
Richard Riakporhe celebrates victory over Jeamie TKV (Photograph: Chris Dean/BOXXER)
The competition grew scrappy as TKV hustled ahead and caught Riakporhe up in clinches. TKV was admonished by the referee and deducted some extent for main together with his head.
Riakporhe quickly took issues into his personal fingers. A clubbing proper around the aspect of the top noticed TKV stagger to the canvas and slide away on his knees.
With Riakporhe stepping into to complete, TKV tried grabbing him in a maintain, just for Riakporhe to toss him to the canvas.
The challenger smashed in an enormous proper and threw the again hand once more. His left hook hit onerous, the fitting swept throughout with huge pressure and as he struck together with his left after which an uppercut the referee prised them aside, ending the struggle at 2-12 of the fifth spherical.
“The plan is to carry on knocking these guys out. I want to challenge for the world title, I’m keeping my eye on Fabio Wardley against Daniel Dubois – I’d love to fight the winner,” Riakporhe declared.
However he additionally referred to as out Johnny Fisher, saying: “I want to offer them the opportunity to fight for this belt, it’s here for you.”
Justis Huni edged out Frazer Clarke on a majority resolution after their 10-round heavyweight conflict.
One decide had them stage 95-95 however the different two had Australia’s Huni successful 96-94.
Clarke nevertheless emerged from the defeat with credit score. He had pushed Huni, a excessive calibre heavyweight contender, shut.
Clarke pressed Huni shut. (Photograph: Chris Dean/BOXXER)
That was particularly vital as Clarke was coming into this struggle after a punishing loss to Jeamie TKV for the British heavyweight title in his final struggle. The trajectory of the Olympic medallist’s future profession was within the steadiness.
Below stress Clarke boxed with some assurance from the centre of the ring. However it was Huni’s hand pace that proved the distinction. The Australian whipped in his fast left and diverse his work properly from the top to the physique.
Clarke switched up a gear on the finish of the fourth spherical, clipping Huni with a mixture after which heaving in hooks to the physique and an uppercut to the top.
Within the ninth spherical a effective proper cross from Huni slammed into Clarke and the Australian cracked in his proper uppercut, a punch he’d utilised properly.
Clarke sought to chase him down within the final spherical however Huni completed the bout shifting on his ft, happy together with his work.
As disappointing because the end result will likely be for Clarke, it was a a lot improved efficiency for him in a primary struggle below new coach Joe Gallagher.
