By Chris Williamson
Copper Box, London - Touted heavyweight prospect “Dynamite" Daniel Dubois (now 4-0) continued his professional education with a predictable knockout of Uruguayan Mauricio Barragan (15-2).
Barragan is a cruiserweight and 29 years old so how he qualified for a crack at something called the WBC youth heavyweight title is anyone's guess. Nevertheless, it's clear Dubois has stardust and is going places. A clubbing right hook floored the visitor and he was bundled down twice more before seeing out the round, a rarity for a Dubois bout.
The second saw the poised Dubois set up his terrifying power shots with a hard jab and Barragan was soon floored for good with clubbing body shots. The title doesn’t mean much but the journey towards more testing fights continues for the exciting youngster.
As a hardcore West Ham fan Sam “the hammer” McNess (now 7-1) knows this area well and harboured dreams of fighting at the home of his team at the neighbouring London Stadium.
Reading’s Asinia Byfield (now 13-1) shattered that dream for the time being as he successfully defended his southern area 11-stone title here at the copper box arena.
Byfield’s unorthodox switch-hitting style frustrated mcNess in the early stages. McNess soon settled and began to land on Byfield whose footwork often left him vulnerably square on. In a ferocious third the fight really erupted as McNess was hurt on several occasions before fighting back as the crowd erupted.
The fourth round almost saw the challenger halted as he was trapped on the ropes and withstood a brutal barrage of hooks from Byfield. Inevitably, it was all over in the fifth with McNess taking several unanswered punches the corner threw the towel in.
