Two Shockers in Sheffield: Kiko KOs Galahad; Baumgardner KOs Harper

Fighting on his home turf in Sheffield, England, Kid Galahad was seemingly well on his way to scoring a wide decision over stubborn but out-classed Kiko Martinez. Then Galahad forgot to duck and in a flash his IBF featherweight title hung by a thread, soon to be sheared away.

An 8/1 favorite, Galahad won each of the first four rounds with room to spare. Kiko constantly pressed the action, as was his custom, but Galahad, born Abdul Awad, continually picked him off with counter right hands. But in the waning seconds of round five, Martinez, bleeding from a small cut over his right eye, beat him to the punch with a right hand of his own. Galahad was badly hurt and he was all at sea when the next round began. Mere seconds into it, Galahad was on the deck again and the referee called it off.

Galahad was 28-1 heading in. His lone previous setback was a narrow defeat to Josh Warrington in Warrington’s hometown of Leeds. He had his sight set on a unification fight with WBO counterpart Emanuel Navarrete, but Martinez (43-10-2, 30 KOs) spoiled the soup. A former IBF super bantamweight champion, the 35-year-old Spanish globetrotter emerged with a second belt in a second weight class.

Co-Feature

In the co-feature, Alycia Baumgardner, a 27-year-old Floridian (by way of Michigan), wrested away the WBC female 130-pound title with a smashing fourth-round stoppage of local fan favorite Terri Harper. Baumgardner, a 3/1 underdog, landed a counter right hand that left Harper literally out on her feet at the 23-second mark of round 4. The referee promptly and properly called a halt. Two rounds earlier, Baumgardner had hurt Harper with a straight right hand, a prelude of what was to come.

It was the first loss for Harper (11-1-1) who was making her first start since November of last year when she emerged from her victory over Katharina Thanderz with a broken hand. Baumgardner, who can really crack (by female standards), improved to 11-1 (7). In her spare time, she is a professional model who has appeared in ads for Adidas. A match between her and Mikaela Mayer would be a delicious pairing.

Other Bouts

In a 12-round match for a European cruiserweight title, Chris Billam-Smith, a 9/1 favorite, won as expected, advancing his record to 14-1 (10) with a lopsided decision over France’s Dylan Bregeon (11-2) in a ho-hum fight. Billam-Smith has been trained by Shane McGuigan since the onset of his career. It was the second crack at this perennially vacant title in the last seven months for Bregeon who previously came up short vs. Fabio Turchi in Milan. The judges had it 120-109 and 119-109 twice.

In a 10-round domestic welterweight dust-up between two light-hitting but undefeated welterweights, neither of whom had previously fought past six rounds, southpaw Dom Hunt improved to 8-0 (1) with a 98-93 victory over fellow Yorkshireman James Flint (9-1-1, 2 KOs). Hunt is trained by former WBC 140-pound title-holder Junior Witter.

Photo credit: Mark Robinson / Matchroom

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