DANIEL DUBOIS put in a career BEST performance to score a bloody TKO win over Filip Hrgovic – with the Croatian battered and bruised and seeing the fight waved off by the ring doctor.Frank Warren’s Queensberry dominated and won EVERY fight to take the inaugural event 10-0 over Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom. Nick Ball and Willy Hutchinson won, while Hamzah Sheeraz – the captain – earned quadruple points as a team captain and scoring a KO win, before Dubois’ TKO win.The final fight of the night saw Zhilei Zhang dominat a woeful Deontay Wilder before scoring a fifth-round KO with a brutal right hand – with the American now facing retirement.Toe to toe
Heavyweight contender Filip Hrgovic was a bloody mess following his all-action slugfest with Brit Daniel Dubois for the IBF interim world title.
‘Triple D’ stopped the Croat in the eighth round to set up a potential Wembley showdown with Anthony Joshua later this year.
Copy linkCopiedQueensberry 10-0 Matchroom
Frank Warren’s team completely demolished Eddie Hearn’s in the early hours in Riyadh.
Willy Hutchinson UD Craig Richards
Nick Ball SD Craig Ford
Hamzah Sheeraz TKO11 Ammo Williams
Daniel Dubois TKO8 Filip Hrgovic
Zhilei Zhang KO5 Deontay Wilder
Copy linkCopiedClinical finish
Dmitry Bivol retained his WBA and IBO belt with a devastating flurry of punches in the sixth round.
The Russian’s last stoppage came in March 2018 against Cuban Sullivan Barrera in New York.
Copy linkCopiedBivol vs Beterbiev penned in
Dmitry Bivol will return to Riyadh for a mouth-watering light-heavyweight undisputed showdown with kingpin Artur Beterbiev on October 12 following a clinical stoppage victory against brave challenger Malik Zinad.
Bivol, the WBA and IBO champion, was due to face unified WBC, WBO and IBF champion Beterbiev before the latter was forced to withdraw due to injury.
“We are professional boxers, we have to change tactics at any moment and I had enough time to change my preparations for a different fighter to Beterbiev,” said Bivol.
Copy linkCopiedGood Morning!
What a night in Saudi Arabia where Frank Warren and Queensberry Promotions dominated Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Sport to win the inagural 5v5 in a landslide.
Warren’s boys won all five fights – three of those via stoppage – to leave Hearn licking his wounds.
Daniel Dubois put himself into world title contention, and a possible fight with Anthony Joshua, while Deontay Wilder is now facing calls to retire after a brutal, poor defeat to Zhilei Zhang.
We’ll have all the reaction and fallout from a brilliant night of boxing. Full results were:
Zhilie Zhang DEF. Deontay Wilder KO
Daniel Dubois DEF. Filip Hrgovic TKO
Hamzah Sheeraz DEF. Ammo Williams TKO
Nick Ball DEF. Raymond Ford
Willy Hutchinson DEF. Craig Richards
Copy linkCopiedZhilei Zhang KO Deontay Wilder
Finally, here’s the ringside report on Zhilei Zhang’s huge win over Deontay Wilder – who is now facing calls to retire.
Copy linkCopiedDaniel Dubois TKO Filip Hrgovic
Here’s Wally’s report of a career-best performance from Daniel Dubois to leave Filip Hrgovic a broken and bloody mess.
Copy linkCopiedHamzah Sheeraz TKO Ammo Williams
Here’s how our man in Saudi, Wally Downes Jr, saw the brilliant TKO win from Ammo Williams.
Copy linkCopiedWilder KO
Here’s another angle of that brutal KO
Copy linkCopiedWhat’s next?
Plenty to unpack after the ring as a long night draws to a close in Saudi.
Turki Alalshikh reveals there will be a big card announced at Wembley at the end of the month, while Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren say they are ready to do another 5v5 event as soon as possible.
Copy linkCopiedQueensberry 10 Matchroom 0
Well, that makes it a whitewash for Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions in the 5v5 against Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Sport.
The event ends with a 10-0 score and Warren is the winner of five fights out of fight and a £3MILLION bet with his rival.
Remember, each win was worth a point but Queensberry earned three bonus points as Zhilei Zhang, Daniel Dubois and Hamzah Sheeraz scored KO wins.
Sheeraz also earned another couple of bonus points as he was the Queensberry team captain.
Full results:
Zhilei Zhang DEF. Deontay Wilder KO
Daniel Dubois DEF. Filip Hrgovic TKO
Hamzah Sheeraz DEF. Ammo Williams TKO
Nick Ball DEF. Raymond Ford
Willy Hutchinson DEF. Craig Richards
Copy linkCopiedZhilei Zhang BEATS Deontay Wilder by KO
WOW! That was an absolutely brutal KO by Zhilei Zhang.
Zhang lands one right on Wilder’s nose and, for some reason, the American turns around to look at the ref.
As he turns Zhang throws his full force into a nasty right hand that absolutely flattens Wilder.
The ref gave Wilder a chance to beat the count but, truthfully, he looked like he was happy to have a way out of that one.
Copy linkCopiedDeontay Wilder vs Zhilei Zhang (Round 5)
Finally, Wilder wakes up a bit and throws a couple of wild right hands with some success.
It didn’t seem to do any damage to his opponent but at least it’s a bit of activity and aggression. Wilder is clearly looking for that perfect knockout but it doesn’t come.
Then all of a sudden Zhang lands some big shots and the ref waves it off!
What a win for the Chinese star!
Copy linkCopiedDeontay Wilder vs Zhilei Zhang (Round 4)
Zhang banks another one. Wilder is just on the backfoot and throwing with zero volume – he’s waiting for that one big right hand.
He’s barely working the jab, instead pawing at Zhang to try and find some range.
Zhang, on the other hand, is throwing combinations with menace and looks in a different league to the former world champ.
Something drastic needs to change or we will not be seeing Deontay Wilder at this level any more.
Copy linkCopiedDeontay Wilder vs Zhilei Zhang (Round 3)
Another stiff left lands on Wilder and then Zhang follows it up with a good shot to the body.
Wilder looks scared to throw in case something comes back. Perhaps he’s trying to draw him on to unload a big counter but it certainly doesn’t seem that way.
He’s tentative, on the back foot and happy to move along the ropes.
Another round for Zhang in my book.
Copy linkCopiedDeontay Wilder vs Zhilei Zhang (Round 2)
Zhang well in the ascendancy here, there was one point early in the round where he had the American trapped in the corner and was just raining shots on him.
Wilder did well to escape but he hasn’t landed a punch in anger yet, huge round from Zhang.
The message from the corner says it all: “Don’t quit on yourself, I don’t want you to be a punching bag.
“I don’t want no rock ’em, sock ’em s***.”
Copy linkCopiedDeontay Wilder vs Zhilei Zhang (Round 1)
Extremely tight round that one, both fighters feeling each other out.
The judges could score that any one of three ways.
What is noticeable immediately is the size difference between these two – two of Wilder’s legs is like one of Zhang’s.
Copy linkCopiedOn their way
Zhilei Zhang is in the ring and in all gold, he comes out to 80s classic Eye of the Tiger – with a little bit of Chinese added for good measure.
Deontay Wilder, never one to miss an opportunity for a decent ring-walk, enters the ring with black shorts, some kind of custom vest and a sparkly face mask.
Copy linkCopiedDeontay Wilder vs Zhilei Zhang NEXT
Main event of the evening coming next and another 50/50 fight.
Both men are coming off big losses and find themselves at crossroads in their careers.
Wilder was well beaten by Joseph Parker after three years out and many people are questioning if he can still do it at the top level.
Parker also beat Zhang in his last fight but that was a lot closer, with Zhang sending the New Zealander to the canvas a couple of times.
One potential X-factor is that Zhang will enter the ring 70 POUNDS heavier (that’s five stone in old money).
Copy linkCopiedDubois vs AJ?
Well what next for Dubois after a performance like that?
It’s a complicated one, to put it mildly. That fight was for the right to fight for the IBF title next, a belt which is currently held by Oleksandr Usyk.
However, the undisputed champ may be stripped of that belt while he chases a rematch with Tyson Fury.
That means Dubois might see his belt upgraded to world champion status – without fighting – or could open the door to a fight with Anthony Joshua, in September.
However, one spanner in the works is Deontay Wilder.
Turki Alalshikh is apparently desperate to see Wilder vs Joshua next and that may stop the Dubois vs AJ train.
Copy linkCopied’No retreat, no surrender’
Speaking after the fight, Dubois said: “No retreat, no surrender. I had to do whatever it took, needed to come through the fire and I did that tonight.
“I needed that support from Frank Warren and my dad, they’ve been there the whole time and we did it.”
Asked about the 5v5, Dubois added: “We’re the kings, we’re the daddies!”
Copy linkCopiedQueensberry 8 Matchroom 0
It’s been an absolute whitewash in the 5v5 so far – four wins out of four for Frank Warren over Eddie Hearn.
Then you add in TKO wins for Daniel Dubois and Hamzah Sheeraz (who also earned extra points as the team captain) and it’s turned out to be a very poor night for Hearn.
Remember, not only has he seen four of his fighters lose, but Hearn’s also lost the £3MILLION bet with longtime rival Warren.
Copy linkCopiedDaniel Dubois BEATS Filip Hrgovic by TKO
Absolutely superb stuff from Dubois, who just put in a career best performance in Saudi Arabia.
Hrgovic certainly had the better of the early rounds but, all of a sudden, Dubois turned on the gas and went to another level.
He landed some sensational cuts and combos in that one, with Hrgovic a bloody mess by the end of that.
Dubois wobbled the Croatian a couple of times and the ref took a very close look before asking the doctor to make a decision.
Hrgovic was left with huge cuts across his face and it was waved off – Dubois may well now face Anthony Joshua next.
Copy linkCopiedFilip Hrgovic vs Daniel Dubois (Round 8)
Daniel Dubois wins!
Sensational performance from the Londoner and the referee waves it off due to the incredible amount of damage on Hrgovic’s face.
Copy linkCopiedFilip Hrgovic vs Daniel Dubois (Round 7)
Brilliant round for Dubois there, he’s landing lovely shots and throwing good combinations.
After a brisk start, Hrgovic looks out on his feet and a couple of massive shots really wobble him.
The Croatian is then saved by the bell but that does not save him from the bloody cuts that are now pouring out claret.
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