By Elliot Foster
MORE LIVE RESULTS TO COME........................................
Vijender Singh cruised to his fifth straight victory in the paid ranks.
The Indian sensation, who has looked flawless since making his debut last October, won once more, exclusively live on BoxNation.
Singh continued his stoppage streak in the process, stopping his French opponent Matiouze Royer in the penultimate of six rounds, as part of the undercard to Hughie Fury’s maiden title clash against Fred Kassi for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight title at the Copper Box Arena in London.
He was in control from beginning to end, the middleweight, as he systematically broke down his younger counterpart, 14-25-3 (3 KOs), with whom he clashed at yesterday’s weigh-in.
The second round was a big one, but the fifth –– and what turned out to be the final round –– was the key. Vijender, 30, worked on the weak spots that he had created in his opponent, causing damage to his right eye.
As a result of the damage to the eye, and the shots that Royer had taken in the preceding rounds, the doctor was called by the referee and after a quick inspection the fight was waved away, leaving Team Singh celebrating yet again after what his promoter, Francis Warren, called a “punch-perfect performance.”
Singh will return to the ring on May 13 at the Premier Suite at Bolton Wanderers’ Macron Stadium and a victory, which he is sure to get if he fights in the same vein as he did tonight, would set up the hotly anticipated homecoming in Delhi, India, that is being planned for him on June 11 and is set to be aired exclusively live in his home country on Star Sports.
Meanwhile, Sanjeev Singh Sahota, or ‘SSS’, as he’s known, opened the live broadcast –– which was free-to-air for the first two hours –– with a debut victory.
The 24-year-old super lightweight, from Hornchurch, who was set to make his bow in the paid code earlier this month before the show at Harrow Leisure Centre on April 2 was cancelled, dazzled as he stopped vastly overmatched Latvian Nikita Gultjajevs, 19, who slipped to 1-2 (1 KO), inside 60 seconds.
Earlier in the card, there were wins for a whole host of prospects.
Nathan Gorman kicked the action off as he moved to 3-0 (2 KOs).
The Ricky Hatton-trained and managed heavyweight, who was added to the card as part of the working partnership between Queensberry and Hatton Promotions, started proceedings swiftly, getting his job done in the opener with an early ending of the challenge of the well-travelled Hrvoje Kisicek.
Elsewhere, Ben Smith, from West Ham, added to his 2-0 record with a 40-36 decision victory over Fonz Alexander, while Lewis Pettitt continued his comeback from defeat by making light work of Tidor Nodari, taking him out after 102 seconds of the second round.
But there was disappointment –– and an upset –– on the bill for Barney Joe Jones, who suffered his maiden pro defeat at the hands of former Vijender Singh victim Dean Gillen on points by a margin of 39-37.
