Israil Madrimov’s rematch with Michel Soro, of France, ended in an unsatisfactory technical draw after Soro suffered a horrendous cut after a clash of heads seconds into the third round at the O2 arena.

The top of the Uzbek’s head smashed into Soro’s face and the damage was immediately obvious as Soro turned away and blood poured from the gash onto the canvas.

The ringside doctor then got into the ring to stem the bleeding as referee Steve Gray waved it off five seconds into the third round.

The two met in December in Tashkent when Madrimov won in controversial circumstances, as the fight was stopped in the ninth round although the bell had sounded. Up until then it had been a close fight.

After being content to find his range with a jab in the first round, Madrimov landed a clubbing right early in the second that seemed to hurt Soro. He followed it up, landing some heavy shots to head and body, as Soro looked under heavy pressure. The third round had barely started when the fight ended.

Londoner Ramla Ali, who boxed for Somalia at the Olympics, moved to 6-0 with an eight-round points win over Agustina Rojas, of Argentina, at super-bantamweight.

Rojas was an absolute sucker for the Ali straight right and Ali landed it repeatedly throughout the fight. Ali switched up her punches well, worked the jab, switched to the body, but Rojas kept moving forward and kept trying, even though the number of shots she landed cleanly was negligible.

To Ali’s credit, though, she was not content to just see out the round as she poured on the pressure in the seventh, trapping Rojas on the ropes as she tried to force a stoppage.

Rojas gave it a go in the last, but Ali landed big shots again with the right and referee Chas Coakley scored it 80-72 to Ali. 

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.