O’Hara Davies won the crossroads clash at the Newcastle Arena, as he halted Lewis Ritson in the ninth round of their WBA super lightweight title eliminator.
Davies (25-2, KO18) came into this one on a six fight winning streak, while Ritson (23-2, KO13) had won two on the spin since a June 2021 tenth round stoppage at the hands of Jeremias Ponce.
It was a competitive start to this one, and both gave s good as they got in the early going, with Davies getting the better of the action. It took until around round five for Ritson to get going, as he landed some solid left hooks, but a round later saw Davies take complete control, hurting Ritson to the body. Ritson was hurt again in round seven, and the eighth saw more body work swinging the fight the way of the Londoner, with the end not long in coming. A wicked left hook to the body from Davies left Ritson writhing in agony, and he was unable to beat the count, handing ’Two Tanks’ victory.
Vicious left hook to the body from Ohara Davies stops Lewis Ritson! #boxing pic.twitter.com/Zh64ZRwJ5d
— Fuckie Chinster (@DailyBruise2) March 4, 2023
In the world title eliminator at featherweight, Otabek Kholmatov (11-0, KO10) snapped the unbeaten record of Thomas Patrick Ward (33-1-1, KO5) in a one sided fifth round stoppage win. Ward was down three times in all, in each of the first, fourth and fifth rounds, before his corner threw in the towel to hand victory to Kholmatov.
Otabek Kholmatov (11-0) scored 3 knockdowns and won by TKO in round 5 against Thomas Patrick Ward (33-1-1) in their WBA featherweight title final eliminator-bout in Newcastle, England. pic.twitter.com/XcNZavCO5O
— Permante (@PermantexG) March 4, 2023
Lee McGregor (12-0-1, KO9) returned to action, and took an eight round points win at super bantamweight against Alexis Kabore (29-8, KO8). McGregor ran out a 79-74 winner for the referee, Ron Kearney.
The bell has sounded 🔔🔔#RitsonDavies is streaming on #FITEplus
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— FITE (@FiteTV) March 4, 2023
In six round action, at super welterweight, Ewan Mackenzie (7-0, KO3) overcame the tough Serge Ambomo (9-41-3, KO4) 59-55, and at lightweight Steven Cairns (5-0, KO2) won all six rounds against Jakub Laskowski (4-22-1, KO2). Ben Rees (1-0-1, KO1) banked his first win as a pro, stopping Konstantin Aleksandrov (10-62-4, KO3) inside a round.
Super middleweight Callum Walton (1-0, KO1) debuted, and stopped Zdenko Bule (0-6) in two rounds, and Nathan Forrest (3-0, KO0) won all four rounds at super lightweight against Liam Fox (0-6).
