Fast Results from London: Yarde TKOs Reeves; Dubois Annihilates Cojanu

Boxing returned today to London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall for only the second time in the last 20 years. Frank Warren promoted the last card here in 2012 and Warren, now in his fourth decade as a boxing promoter, was the fulcrum again.

Warren’s card included two domestic title fights but the bouts attracting the most ink involved hot heavyweight prospect Daniel Dubois and rising light heavyweight contender Anthony Yarde.

Yarde, ranked #2 by the WBO, was pitted against Travis Reeves who lasted into the fifth round before the bout was terminated by the referee with Reeves out on his feet.

Nicknamed The Beast, the 27-year-old Yarde (18-0 17 KOs) has now won 16 straight by stoppage. Tonight’s TKO was arguably the most impressive as Reeves was no slouch. A late bloomer with a college degree in electrical engineering, the 38-year-old from Baltimore, trained by Hasim Rahman, had won 14 of his last 15 fights.

Yarde was the busier fighter through the first four rounds and comfortably ahead heading into the fifth when he blasted the American into the ropes with a right-left combination and the referee, seeing that Reeves was in no condition to continue, waived it off. The time was 0:48.

Yarde has his sights set on a match with Sergey Kovalev. “My foot’s in the door,” he said, referencing Kovalev in a post-fight interview.

Dubois

A 21-year-old Londoner, Daniel Dubois was matched against Razvan Cojanu, a 6’7 ½”, 265-pound Romanian who currently fights out of Los Angeles. Dubois was 9-0 coming in. All of his eight knockouts had come in the first three rounds.

Stories about Cojanu routinely referenced him as a former world title challenger, but that notation should have come with an asterisk as Cojanu “earned” a crack at the WBO title held by Joseph Parker when Hughie Fury pulled out late, leaving Team Parker scrambling for a replacement.

It is a fact, however, that Cojanu extended Parker the full 12 rounds and that he subsequently went 12 with Nathan Gorman, so Dubois’ showing tonight, a second round knockout, was a nice feather in his cap. It put Dubois in the same league with Luis Ortiz who also needed only two rounds to put away the Romanian trial horse.

After dominating the first round, Dubois closed the show in the next frame, knocking Cojanu into dreamland with a blistering right hand to the jaw set up by a left to the body. It was the fourth straight loss for Cojanu whose record declined to 16-6.

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In the first of the two domestic title fights, Chris Jenkins, a Welshman, upset the odds and sheared the British (BBBofC) welterweight title from Johnny Garton, winning a 12-round unanimous decision. Jenkins won by scores of 119-109, 117-112, and 116-112.

Although there were no knockdowns, the fight was more entertaining than the scorecards would have led one to believe. A zesty final round drew a standing ovation at the bell. It was Jenkins third crack at the title and the third time proved to be a charm.

Liam Williams, another Welshman, successfully defended his British middleweight belt in an impressive fashion, stopping “Smoking” Joe Mullender in the second round. A heavy favorite, Williams put Mullender (11-3) on the canvas with a fast combination and then knocked him down again with a big right hand that sent Mullender face first to the canvas. The brave Mullender beat the count and the fight was allowed to continue, but the referee was quick to rectify his oversight and only a few more seconds elapsed by the fight was waived off.

Williams (20-2-1, 15 KOs) has defeated everyone put in front of him with the exception of Liam Smith who won their first fight on cuts and their second on a narrow decision.

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