Fabio Wardley successfully defended his British heavyweight title with a first-round KO in a rematch with Fraser Clarke. The first fight between the two fighters took place at London's O2 Arena in March, and the pair played a full 12 rounds, ending in a draw.
The undercard match between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol in Riyadh turned out to be a much shorter bout (about two and a half minutes). Wardley caught and hurt Clark with a looping overhand right hand, followed by a hard follow-up shot that sent Clark to the canvas. A dazed Clark valiantly tried to stand up, but the referee called off the match.
Wardley, who won his 18th out of 19 fights, said this in the ring after the match. He went into the final game with some issues. We fixed them, got the game plan right, put it together and executed it that night.
“We got enough credit in the first battle to make sure we were successful in that war mode. We just have to be a little bit gentler, put it together a little better, set the situation a little better, disguise it a little bit. “I did” better. But I can't avoid it. A war in name, a war in nature. Once the enemy has been harmed, they cannot be helped unless the bell rings. ”
Chris Eubank Jr. faced Conor Benn in the middleweight division following a seventh-round knockout win over Poland's Kamil Sheremeta. When the match was stopped, Eubank Jr. had already knocked down his opponent in the first and sixth rounds, after which Benn jumped into the ring.
As Neymar, a Brazilian forward who plays for Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal, watched from the ring, the two British players exchanged words of “Let's get it done'' and had a heated exchange, at times bumping heads.
Benn has not fought in the UK since being suspended for failing two voluntary drug tests in preparation for his match against Eubank Junior in October 2022. The match was forced to be canceled.
Asked when he would be allowed to compete again in his home country, Benn, who had been inactive apart from defeating Rodolfo Orozco and Peter Dobson in the United States, told DAZN: A few weeks. I think we will be able to announce it next month, God willing. ”
Raven Chapman lost to Australian WBC featherweight champion Skye Nicholson in her first women's world title fight in Saudi Arabia. In this historic contest, Australia's Nicholson won by unanimous decision.
Nicholson's compatriot Jay Opetaia defended his IBF cruiserweight title against Britain's Jack Massey, with the bout being stopped in the sixth round.
After newsletter promotion
A light heavyweight fight between Brits Ben Whittaker and Liam Cameron ended in a draw with both men falling out of the ring. Whittaker, an Olympic silver medalist, left the field in a wheelchair, holding onto a rope with Cameron and falling from the summit before being taken to hospital for scans on his injured leg.
Cameron was sprawled on top of Whittaker at the end of the fifth round as Whittaker fell to the canvas on the outside, and Whittaker was unable to get back up. The match was called off due to an accidental injury and a technical split draw was declared, with one scorecard showing Whittaker leading 58-57, another showing Cameron leading by the same score, and a third scorecard showing Whittaker leading by the same score. The score was tied at 58-58.
In the main event, Beterbiev unified the light heavyweight world titles by majority decision. Both fighters were undefeated before the fight in Riyadh, with 33-year-old Bivol holding the WBA belt and Beterbiev, 39, the current WBC, WBO and IBF champion.
The headline showdown at Kingdom Arena, postponed from June because Montreal-based Beterbiev suffered a knee injury, puts the four recognized major belts in the hands of one man for the first time. The last undisputed light heavyweight champion was American Roy Jones Jr., who defeated Reggie Johnson in 1999 to unify the WBA, WBC and IBF belts.
