Ohara Davies, Craig Richards Get Stoppages At York Hall

By Elliot Foster

Ohara Davies added another win –– and another stoppage –– to his ever improving ledger to remain undefeated.

The Hackney lightweight, who is the English champion and is now 12-0 with 10 early endings, stopped foreign opposition inside five rounds, as part of the free Anthony Joshua vs. Dominic Breazeale public workout event.

Davies, 24, ended the challenge of previously undefeated Hungarian Zoltan Szabo (9-1, 3 KOs) at Bethnal Green’s historic York Hall venue, with his impressive display screened to the masses on Sky Sports’ website.

Szabo wasn’t your typical Hungarian, who came to give the home fighter a tough rest but ultimately came up short. Instead, he was ambitious, tried to win and was evading shots effectively as well as throwing back some of his own leather.

That was in the early stages.

However, as the fight progressed and bleach-blonde-haired ‘Two Tanks’ grew in confidence and upped the pressure and punch output, the ambition of Szabo –– who is set to challenge for the vacant WBC Youth lightweight world title in Germany in November –– quickly ebbed away.

It was then that Davies, who stopped Andy Keates inside four rounds at the O2 Arena to claim his first major title back in April, began to show his class and pull ahead in the fight as he rained in hooks and powerful jabs from either hand in the third round.

A right cross in the fourth stanza opened up a nasty cut on Szabo’s left eye and although the visitor didn’t let it worry him, the referee Jeff Hinds, on the advice of the ringside doctor, called a halt to the contest early on in round five, which was a decision that Szabo clearly wasn’t happy with as, visibly frustrated, he jumped up and down on the canvas.

"He was the best guy I've fought so far,” Davies told Sky Sports afterwards. “I knew he'd be tough because of his undefeated record and I didn't underestimate him.

“I wasn't surprised it was stopped because the cut was bad and was only going to get worse.

"The atmosphere was great. I don't think I've fought in front of a crowd that lively before. I loved it and I can't wait for another chance to do that again.”

Earlier on in the night, Craig Richards moved to 4-0 with a one-round stoppage win over the vastly overmatched Richard Horton, who was dispatched in just 78 seconds by Commonwealth Games gold medallist Callum Johnson in Manchester in May.

The Crystal Palace man, who now has two knockouts on his burgeoning record in the paid code, was in control from the very beginning, showing impressive speed and power as he landed several left hooks.

Two rights swiftly followed and forced Horton, who slipped to 10-9 (1 KO) in defeat, to the canvas.

Spiritedly, Horton rose from the seat of his pants but only took further punishment before a sharp uppercut that was almost a right cross was landed.

The 34-year-old Essex man was once again floored but this time was unable to beat the count and Hinds, the third man in the ring, raised the arm of Richards after calling an end to proceedings.