Fast Results from Manchester: Usyk KO’s Bellew

Liverpool’s Tony Bellew would have the crowd in his corner, but other than that it was hard to build a case for him, notwithstanding his 10-fight winning streak. In southpaw Oleksandr Usyk, Bellew was meeting the man that cleaned up the cruiserweight division, becoming the first man ever in his weight class to hold all four of the meaningful belts simultaneously. The conventional wisdom was that Bellew had to focus his game plan on landing a big shot as he had no chance of out-boxing the slick Ukrainian.

Bellew never landed the big shot. He had his moments early on, but Usyk gradually turned the tide and ultimately stopped the popular Liverpudlian who was knocked out in the eighth round.

England has been good to Usyk who took home an Olympic gold medal on his previous trip here. Today, he started slowly. Bellow landed the first crisp punch of the fight and exuded confidence, playing to the crowd in rounds two and three by egging Usyk on. But Usyk never deviated from his game plan. He seized control in round five and pressed his advantage in the next round where he wobbled Bellew with a punch that landed at the bell. In round seven, Usyk was in a groove and Bellew was fading.

Usyk was landing combinations at will in the eighth before ending matters with a left hook. The referee started to count but waved the fight off before reaching “10.”

Bellew indicated before the match that this would be his final fight. If he is true to his word, he will leave the sport with a record of 30-3-1. As for Usyk (16-0, 12 KOs), whose career to this point compares favorably to Evander Holyfield at the same juncture, he likely has Anthony Joshua in his future.

 Crolla-Yordan

In a fight billed as a WBA lightweight title eliminator, local fan favorite Anthony Crolla (35-6-1) turned away Daud Yordan (38-4), winning a unanimous decision. All three judges had it 116-112. There were no knockdowns.

It was Crolla’s third straight win since back-to-back losses to Jorge Linares in world title fights. Yordan, a well-traveled Indonesian, was making his first start on British soil. His only losses heading in were to men who have held world titles. Crolla’s victory puts him in line to fight Vasiliy Lomachenko who will be in action next month.

Burns-Cardle

At age 35, former three-division title holder Ricky Burns (43-7-1) is on the wrong side of the mountain, but one couldn’t tell it by the way he steamrolled former sparring partner Scott Cardle (23-3-1). Burns, a veteran of 12 world title fights who went the distance with Terence Crawford in 2014, hurt Cardle with virtually every punch he threw before blasting him out in the third round. The Scotsman smashed Cardle to the canvas with overhand right and when Cardle rose on unsteady legs the referee waved it off.

More

Junior middleweight Josh Kelly, a 2016 Olympian, made quick work of Argentina’s Walter Fabian Castillo (14-2), dismissing his overmatched opponent in the opening round. Kelly (8-0, 6 KOs) is signed to fight former world title challenger David Avanesyan on Dec. 8 at Sheffield. The main go of that show pits Sheffield’s Kell Brook against Australia’s Michael Zerafa.

In a heavyweight contest between defensively limited and seemingly poorly conditioned bruisers, useful David Allen (16-4-2) came on late to halt Argentina’s Ariel Bracamonte (8-2). The bout was halted after seven frames on the advice of the ringside physician.

Allen, who resurrected his flagging career in July with a fourth round stoppage of undefeated prospect Nick Webb, is also slated to appear on the Dec. 8 show in Sheffield, but may not be ready to go back in the ring so soon after the bruising tiff with Bracamonte.

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