Dereck Chisora added the vacant WBA International heavyweight title to go with his European and WBO straps, when he halted the Czech Republic’s Ondrej Pala in bizarre circumstances after an exchange of blows in round three of a contest scheduled for 12 at the Copper Box Arena in London.
Pala (34-2 22 knockouts) gave a solid account of himself in the opening two sessions in which he tagged a marauding ‘Del Boy’ several times with his left hook, but Chisora (19-4, 13 knockouts) showed a solid set of whiskers to shake off the effects of the blows to come back with his own combination in round three.
Chisora upped the tempo of his attack in the third stanza and a right hook forced Pala into a corner where the visitor turned his back on the action after copping a clubbing blow around the back of his head. Chisora, quite rightly, continued to punch and a left hook crashed into the face of a defenceless challenger and the referee was given no choice but to wave the contest off.
The end came at 2-25.
Since a points defeat at the hands of Tyson Fury back in 2011 in a contest that saw Chisora enter the ring woefully out of shape, the Finchley man has rededicated himself to training and has chiselled his body into shape, dropping his weight from 260lbs to 235. He gave a good account of himself in a losing effort to WBC champion Vitali Klitschko in 2012 and has gone on to have a successful 2013 with victories over then unbeaten American Malik Scott by stoppage, picked up the European title with a fifth round KO of German Edmund Gerber and another inside the distance win over Hector Alfredo Avila.
“I knew it was the end. Most people when they fight me, they get brave” said Chisora after the contest.
The Londoner explained to Boxnation TV that his offence was impeded by a hand injury suffered in round one.
“I hurt my thumb” said Chisora pointing to his right hand.
“It isn’t broken and these things happen so Merry Christmas and a happy New Year and you will see me out again in February.”
Frank Warren, the promoter of Chisora, explained that he would like to see the former world title challenger face his old nemesis Tyson Fury sometime in 2014.
“It is a fight the public would like to see” said the veteran promoter.
“Tyson beat Dereck a few years ago but both of them have won a bundle of fights since.”
Acting as chief support to the heavyweight contest saw popular Enfield ticket seller Frank Buglioni score an eighth round KO of the Czech Republic’s Stefan Horvath in a super middleweight contest with the vacant WBO European bauble up for grabs.
Buglioni (11-0, 8 knockouts) has a studied style behind a solid jab and looked content to box his way to a 10 round decision until a racking left hook to the body at the end of a combination dropped the visitor to the canvas in round eight.
Obviously in some distress Horvath bravely made it to his feet but another perfectly placed body shot by Buglioni finished the job. The came at 2-58
Bradley Skeete (14-0, 4 knockouts) boxed well behind his jab to claim a unanimous point’s decision over veteran Colin Lynes to take the vacant English welterweight title.
Scores of 96-94, 96-93 and 97-93 in favour of Skeete despite the younger man taking a knee in round two following a chopping right hand to the back of his head.
After a cautious opening round Lynes, the vastly more experienced of the two, stunned Skeete with a chopping right to the side of his head that wobbled the undefeated prospects legs and forced him to take a knee.
Skeete was fully aware of his surroundings as he glanced over to his corner and the knock down served as notice that Lynes was still a dangerous challenge for the 26-year-old.
Skeete got back onto jab for the remaining eight rounds, and although he shipped a few more hard punches from Lynes, he cruised to a unanimous decision.
Skeete recovered well to defuse Lynes with his jab and boxed his way over the finishing line.
Tom Baker scored a shut out 60-54 victory over Callum Smith victim Kirill Psonko.
Frank Buglioni was previously taken the full eight rounds by Psonko but Smith blasted the Eastern European import in a round back in September.
Baker at 23 boxed a controlled fight behind his jab and mixed in the use of a nice left hand to good effect but never looked like halting Psonko.
Baker moves to 6-0.
Georgie Kean stopped Danny Dontchev in the final round of a scheduled four threes to move to 2-0.
Dontchev, who often arrives at shows without a trainer or even boxing boots, was here to spoil, but Kean did the sensible thing and allowed Dontchev to press forward whilst using his superior skills to pick him off with fast combinations.
Dontchev was sent to the canvas in round two but the shot of the fight was a lovely right uppercut from Kean that sent Dontchev to the floor in round three.
After shipping more punishment in round four the referee had seen enough and the contest was waved off.
Andreas Evangelou won on his Queensbury promotions debut by outpointing Mitch Mitchell 59-56 over six threes.
His brother Chris Evangelou was upset by Ashley Mayall over six threes, dropping a 56-59 decision.
Gary Corcoran stopped Dai Jones of Wales midway through the fifth round of a scheduled six. The Londoner moves to 7-0 with three wins coming inside schedule.
Undefeated Scottish heavyweight Gary Cornish moved to 17-0 on St Andrews day by halting Croat Ivica Perkovic in the third round of a scheduled six that opened the show.
