Undercard results from England

source: Matchroom

21/03/2021

Undercard results from England

Anthony Fowler KO3 Jorge Fortea ... Junior middleweight Anthony Fowler demolished Spain’s Jorge Fortea with a third-round knockout. The Liverpudlian dropped Fortea with a stiff jab and then unloaded a huge right hand to floor the 30 year-old for the count. “I surprised myself, I’m not going to lie,” said Fowler. “I thought it was going to go to points. I half play myself down. He just went twelve rounds with a Russian 18-0 killer [Bakhram Murtazaliev]. I’m boxing at a much lower level. I’m the first one to admit that. I get a few trolls sometimes telling me that I’m boxing at English title level and they’re right, it’s not my fault. I’m asking for these big fights. I haven’t been getting them. I’ve said to Eddie, ‘throw me in mate, let’s see what I’m made of’. Try and get me smashed and let’s see how I get on. He went down from a stiff jab which I was surprised about. I heard Shane say, ‘don’t rush it’, but I knew there was ten seconds left so I thought ‘f*ck it’. I had to throw one bomb at least, luckily enough it landed. He was actually better than I thought he was going to be. The first round was even and in the second round he caught me with a good shot. The jab was landing but he was quite tricky. I started throwing to his body to slow him down. The finish was nice, it was a nice straight hand. I was glad he stayed down; it could have been a long night that. I could have cried in that ring; it means that much to me. My coach genuinely believes in me more than me. I’ve got the power in both hands and I’ve got the ability. Me and Metcalf is an unbelievable fight. I know he wants it; I’ve heard him talking about it. The whole city would be buzzing. Put me in with Garcia and I’ll beat him too.”
 
Chris Billam-Smith W10 Vasil Ducar ... Chris Billam-Smith dropped Vasil Ducar twice during a hard-fought ten-round points victory that saw him progress to 12-1. "CBS," trained by Shane McGuigan, floored Ducar (9-4-1) with a right hand in the fourth round, then sent him back to the canvas with a body shot. But the Czech fired back with clubbing shots as Billam-Smith was made to work for a unanimous decision. “I felt comfortable in there at all times, even when he had his little spurts,” said Smith. “It was really good for me. I thought I was going to become the first man to stop him. I had him down a couple of times, but he was a tough tough man. If I was going to rate it out of ten, I’d probably give myself a 6.5 or 7 out of ten. I’ve got plenty to work on in the gym and I can improve a lot. The main thing was getting the win. I got that and I’m happy. I hit him with a great body shot, I felt it really sink in, and then I dropped him to the head as well. He was dipping and I was trying to hit him just over the top of his gloves. Those Czechs are tough and all respect to him. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the stoppage, but the main important thing was the win. I switched off a couple of times during the fight because I felt very comfortable. I let my hands get leaky probably two or three times during the fight and he clipped me, but I wasn’t buzzed or hurt at all. I saw everything coming so you can always take something out of the shots. I’ve definitely got improvements to make. That was my 13th fight and I’m always about improving every day in the ring. I’m very grateful to have such great stablemates and such a great coach. I’d love to get the Tommy McCarthy [European championship]  fight as soon as possible.”
 
Bradley Rea TKO1 Lee Cutler... Stretford’s Bradley Rea maintained his unbeaten record by stopping Lee Cutler (7-1) inside the opening round to move to 10-0 in the first fight of the night. With Ricky Hatton in his corner, the 23 year-old middleweight flew out of the blocks, unloading punishing shots on his opponent from Bournemouth. The Steve Wood-managed youngster had been out of the ring for over a year due to the pandemic but showed no signs of ring rust as he put Cutler down three times before the referee waved off the contest. “I’m over the moon,” Rea told Matchroom afterwards. “It has been a long time coming. It was a long camp; it’s been 12 months. I’ve been wanting to box on shows like this my whole life. Hopefully I can get on these shows a bit more regularly after that performance. Prior to this I’ve only had three stoppages, so I think he thought I wasn’t going to hit hard. It’s something that we’ve been working on, planting my feet. I’ve been working on a bit of strength and conditioning stuff while we’ve had this year off. It has been quite beneficial to me I think. I’m feeling strong at the moment, I had a great camp. I’ve been hurting people in camp. I knew if I landed cleanly, I’d hurt him. I’m in no rush, I’m still only 23. I want to be in fights like this. In the build-up to this fight I’ve had that fear factor that I’ve not had in my previous fights. I knew that if I wasn’t on my game I would have lost tonight. Lee is a good kid. I just found gears that I didn’t know that I had. Hopefully in fights to come I’ll find even more.” 
 
Ellie Scotney W6 Mailys Gangloff..... Catford featherweight Ellie Scotney added her second professional victory with a composed points win over France’s Mailys Gangloff. The 23 year-old gave glimpses of her talent, catching Gangloff with crisp combinations in a six-round points victory. “It was definitely a learning fight for me for sure,” said Scotney. “Normally in your second fight you’re going to box someone that’s not coming to win. She wasn’t an idiot; she’d had five fights. I learnt a lot from that and there’s a lot to build on. I’m thankful for that. She was very angry wasn’t she. She’s as tough as they come, and I think I’m going to benefit a lot from it. It’ll give me a kick up the backside. I’ve got a lot more work to put in, which I love doing. I’ve got a long way to go. It was my birthday this week, I’ve just turned 23, I want to push on and I know I’ve got it in me. Now it’s time to start delivering. Women’s boxing is going from strength to strength. Hopefully I can get on the undercard of one of the big ones in May.”
 
Ramla Ali W6 Bec Connolly... Bethnal Green featherweight Ramla Ali dominated Bec Connolly (3-9) over six rounds, winning 60-55 on the referee’s scorecard to move to 2-0. The Somalia-born boxer displayed her classy ring skills from the opening bell, nearly stopping Connolly with a sustained attack in the third round before completing another one-sided points win. “Apart from the shiner on my face I’m very satisfied,” Ali told Matchroom. “Regardless of what the scales said, I gave away about half a stone. I weighed-in in like two pairs of jogging bottoms just so I could match the weight. I felt the weight difference for sure, but I tried to not let her use her weight advantage against me. I tried to maintain the centre of the ring as much as possible, which I did. I’m really satisfied with how I performed. She’s tough but I got it done. Jobi always says you can’t beat the feet – and he’s right! I was always moving off from the double jab. We work a lot on footwork, and I feel like I did really well with my footwork. She was the one calling me out saying that she wanted to fight me. Don’t then turn around and complain that you’ve had short notice. You’re a professional, if I was calling someone out, I’d be ready any time. She said she had a couple of days’ notice. I don’t know what to say about that really. Everyone is nervous before getting in the ring because it means so much to you. You want to prove yourself and you want to show all of your friends and family that are watching at home that you’re worthy of watching. You want to put on a good performance and have a good fight. The moment that bell went all of the nerves went and I was razor focused on getting the job done. The Olympic dream is still alive and I’m still hopeful to go, and hopeful to compete. I’m still hoping to progress in my professional career.” source for all results: matchroom