Gamal Yafai: record, next fight and profile →
Genting Arena, Birmingham - It was all sweet for London’s Bradley Skeete (146lbs) tonight as he weathered a bit of a late storm to take the British and Commonwealth welterweight titles from Stourbridge’s Sam Eggington (145½Lbs), who was out-boxed early and could not close his man down late on to close the deficit.
Birmingham’s Gamal “The Best” Yafai (121½lbs) had to work hard for his money at his hometown’s Barclaycard Arena. The 24-year-old fought Tanzania’s Nasibu Ramadhani (117¼lbs) in a 10-round eliminator for the Commonwealth Super bantamweight title on the Eddie Hearn-promoted bill and was taken right to the final bell by the spirited visitor.
Dale Evans was on the verge of quitting boxing – now he has the chance to rip the British and Commonwealth Welterweight titles from Sam Eggington when they clash at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham on Saturday night, live on Sky Sports. Evans holds a win over Eggington when the pair went hell for leather in the quarter finals of Prizefighter in January 2013. The Welshman was edged out of the final in Wolverhampton that night by Glenn Foot – and since then the careers of the quarter-finalists have gone in very different directions.
On the non-televised undercard action from a wet Craven Park Stadium in Hull there were four round decision wins for George Rhodes Jr (2-0) at welterweight, Charlie Flynn (4-0) at light welterweight with light middleweight Connor Seymour (3-0-2) picking up a points victory over six. Veteran journeyman of over 200 fights Kristian Laight upset the apple cart in the fourth bout of the evening edging out local fighter Carl Chadwick 2-1 over four rounds at light welterweight. The victory was Laight’s tenth of his professional career and his 219th bout since his pro debut in 2009.
Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham - Super middleweight prospect Lennox Clarke (8-0, 3KOs) won a four round decision over Alistair Warren (8-10). The referee had a solie score of 39-38. Michael Rooney (7-0) continued his run with a four round decision over Ismail Anwar (5-2), who went down in the second and once again in the third. Featherweight Gamal Yafai (6-0, 3KOs) won an eight round decision over Arnoldo Solano (14-8). The sole score was 80-71.
Light heavyweight Oscar Ahlin (10-0, 9 KOs) of Sweden resumed his series of stoppage wins merely a year since his last fight. The promising prospect was tested a bit by rugged Latvian Olegs Fedotovs (18-16, 12 KOs) before rallying hard during the last round. Fedotovs ate several unanswered punches in the center of the ring but was in position to continue - however, the referee has wrongly halted the action at 2:15 of the sixth stanza.Fedotovs has lost his third straight contest this year.
On Sat night at Wembley Stadium in London all eyes will be on Carl Froch and George Groves who aim to settle their ‘Unfinished Business’ in front of 80,000 people and the millions watching across the world. With a glittering undercard featuring James DeGale, Kevin Mitchell, Jamie McDonnell and Anthony Joshua there is also another participant who will be aiming to make sure people are mentioning him in the coming days and weeks.