Zhielei Zhang won the WBO Interim Heavyweight title with a sixth round stoppage over previously undefeated Joe Joyce at The Copper Box Arena in London.
Zhang landed some heavy blows in rounds one and two. In round two, Zhang landed a hard straight left that buckled Joyce and bloodied his nose. In round three, the right eye of Joyce began to shut. By round five, the eye was shut. In round five, Zhang began to bleed from the nose. Zhang continued to land hard shots that worsened to the point that made the referee at 1:34 of round six.
Zhang, 278 lbs of China is 25-1-1 with 20 knockouts. Joyce, 256 lbs of London is 14-1.
Zhang said, “Today belongs to me. It belongs to everyone who showed up. It belongs to every Chinese person who showed up today.
“I’m 39 years old. But I’m disciplined. I train hard. The next step is for me to fight for a world title.”
Joyce said, “I’m just disappointed with my performance. The [left] hand kept hitting me, and I couldn’t get out of the way. So, respect to Zhilei Zhang. It was a good fight, but I think I could have done better.
“I haven’t fought a southpaw for so long. Credit to him because he’s a good fighter. I gave it my all, and I think I can do better. It’s just disappointing. I expected to win like I normally do.”
Mikaela Mayer moved up in weight and took a 10-round unanimous decision over very last minute replacement Lucy Wildheart to win the WBC Interim Lightweight Title.
In the final round, Wildheart was bleeding from her nose.
Mayer landed 296 of 592 punches. Wildheart was 131 of 462.
Mayer, 134.5 lbs of Colorado Springs, CO won by scores of 100-90, 98-92 and 98-91 and is now 18-1. Wildheart, 134 lbs of Brentoowd, ENG took the fight 24 hours ago after Christina Linatradou had a medical issue. Wildheart is 10-2
Mayer said, “She stepped in at the last minute, so that was really gutsy of her. It’s definitely a big fight for her to just jump in at 24 hours’ notice. But she was tough and durable. I see why she had the confidence to do that, so props to her.
“I like to fight on the inside, so once I knew that she couldn’t outbox me, I decided to take it to her a little bit and try to break her down to the body.
“I do believe that Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano are supposed to go for their rematch, so assuming that still happens, I will challenge the winner of that. So, it’s definitely really exciting for me. This is where I belong. I belong in big fights. I belong in world title fights. I’m in my prime. I feel great, and I want the toughest challenges possible, and right now at 135, that’s Katie Taylor.”
Moses Itauma went the distance for the first time in his life won a six-round decision over Kostiantyn Dovbyshchenko .
The score was60-5 for Itauma, 247 lbs of Chatham, ENG is 3-0. Dovbyschenko of Ukraine is 9-13-1.
Heavy-handed Sam Noakes remained completely perfect by stopping Karthik Shartish Kumar 12-round lightweight bout.
In round one, Noakes dropped Kumar with a flush right to the head, Noakes continued with hard shots, and another right made Kumar’s glove touch the canvas, and the fight was stopped at 1:17.
Noakes, 134 1/2 lbs of Kent, ENG is 11-0 with 11 knockouts. Kumar, 134 1/2 lbs of India is 10-1.
