Unbeaten Irish middleweight prospect Aaron McKenna recorded his 15th win as Argentina’s David Benitez was thrown out by referee Kevin Parker in the seventh of eight rounds in Coventry.
Benitez was unambitious but McKenna never gave him a moment’s peace. The problem was that having started flat out, there did not seem to be more gears for McKenna as he just battered away at Benitez continuously.
The Argentinian got very tired in the sixth round and started to hold and foul to get through the rounds. In the seventh round he had a point deducted for a blatant low punch. As Parker looked to wave them back together, Benitez spat out his gumshield, prompting Parker to wave the fight off at 1:40. It appeared to be a disqualification but was announced as a stoppage.
Tall unbeaten super-welterweight southpaw Shakiel Thompson was made to work hard for his eighth win by Bartosz Glowacki, of Poland, before claiming a 60-54 decision from referee Chris Dean.
Thompson moved well and kept the pressure on Glowacki, but the Polish boxer’s toughness ensured he never looked likely to be stopped.
Kaisee Benjamin, who has hopes of challenging for a British title at super-lightweight in the not-too-distant-future maintained his long winning run with a six-round points win over late substitute Serge Ambomo, who stepped in when Carlos Cordoba was ruled out.
Benjamin looked mostly content to outbox Ambomo, who seemed content to go the distance after catching Benjamin with a couple of useful left hooks in the first round. Referee Parker scored it 60-55.
Scott Forrest found a big right hand to dispatch Toni Visic in the fourth of their six-round cruiserweight fight to record his second professional win in the show-opener.
Forrest, 27, who competed at two Commonwealth Games, was on top throughout but loaded up too much at times as Visic, from Croatia, looked to see out the rounds by covering up, moving and pawing out an occasional jab.
But Forrest found the range in the fourth as he measured Visic with a big right that sent him over. He looked initially unwilling to get up but he did beat the count at nine. Referee Dean looked as if he was going to allow it to continue, but Visic’s corner threw in the towel. The time was 1:35.
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.
