Ryan Garner hasn’t been too active, but got a good eight rounds, boxing at a high pace against Christian Lopez Flores, a Mexican living Spain, at super-featherweight on the Sheeraz-Torres undercard at the Copper Box.
Lopez Flores was on his eighth trip to the UK. He has yet to win here, but has never been stopped either.
Garner, who moved to 12-0, tended to ignore his jab, leading off throughout with his right, which worked at times and at others he was swinging at thin air or lunging in. When he did catch Lopez Flores, however, he was good at following up and trapping the Mexican on the ropes.
As the fight went longer, Garner seemed to get better, closing down the ring well in the fifth round, although the switch-hitting Lopez Flores proved a tough man to nail down.
He came closest to forcing a stoppage in the final round and Lopez Flores looked a relieved man when the final bell sounded.
Referee Sean McAvoy scored it 80-72.
Khalid Ali was too heavy handed for Des Newton as he blasted him out in the second of their super-welterweight six-rounder.
Ali was on top of Newton from the opening bell and softened him up in the first with a series of body shots. When he opened up in the second, Newton was wide open and turned away after being caught by one punch, which was a time referee Bob Williams could have stopped it.
But Ali was allowed to continue his attack and a big left dropped Newton, the back of his head hitting the bottom rope.
That was a cue for a ringside doctor to jump into the ring, only to then be pushed away by Williams who had decided to count Newton. He did make it to his feet, only for Williams to then wave the fight off at 0:54 of the round.
Umar Khan had to get off the floor before extending his unbeaten record to four fights with a six-round decision over Engel Gomez, from Nicaragua, via Spain.
Khan was dropped midway through the second round by a crushing right hook from Gomez, but Khan was quick to re-establish control and, by the fourth, he was starting to get through with a steady stream of combinations.
But there was no quit in Gomez, who kept firing back, even though Khan was well on top and looked good, mixing shots to head and body. Referee John Latham scored it 58-56 to Khan.
Sonny Liston Ali also moved to 4-0 with a six-round decision over Chris Adaway at super-lightweight. Adaway was under the pump for most of the fight, but kept moving and made Ali work for it, before going down 60-55 on referee Sean McAvoy’s card.
In the show-opener, Sean Noakes moved to 2-0 with a second round stoppage of MJ Hall at welterweight. The fight was waved off at 2:45.
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.
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