Fast Results from Cardiff: Eubank Subdues Williams; Claressa Dominates Kozin

Boxing returned to the U.K. tonight following the January lockdown and Chris Eubank Jr made an impressive showing in the main go of a Sky TV card while earning a 12-round decision over rugged Liam Williams before a hostile crowd in Cardiff, Wales. The judges had it 116-109 and 116-108 twice.

Eubank Jr scored three knockdowns in the first four rounds, the first and last with counter punches sandwiched around a blistering combination. Williams rallied and made a fight of it, but his gains evaporated when Eubank Jr caught him off-balance and put him on the canvas again in Round 11.

At age 32, Eubank Jr (32-2, 23 KOs) isn’t getting any younger, but he has clearly improved since getting out-foxed by countryman George Groves in 2018. He trained for this fight under Roy Jones Jr and like so many of his cohorts he covets a match with Canelo Alvarez. Liam Williams (23-4-1) is teak-tough but the Welshman wasn’t on the same level of his previous opponent Demetrius Andrade when they fought back in April and he wasn’t on the same level as Eubank in this twice-postponed skirmish tonight, a battle that closely mirrored Williams-Andrade.

Co-Feature

In a predictably one-sided affair, defending WBC, WBA, IBF middleweight champion Claressa Shields improved to 12-0 (2) while pitching a shutout over Slovenian southpaw Ema Kozin who entered the match undefeated (21-0-1) but wasn’t in Shields’ class.

Shields was back in her comfort zone after losing a split decision in October in her second MMA fight, her first loss in 12 years. This contest was designed as a tune-up for Shields for a date with former amateur rival Savannah Marshall who was in attendance and engaged the self-proclaimed GWOAT in a war of words after the bout. Marshall has her tune-up slated for March 12 in Newcastle. Belgium’s Femke Hermans will be in the opposite corner.

Other Bouts

With the crowd in his corner, Chris Jenkins, a 33-year-old- Welsh welterweight, defeated Julius Indongo by 78-75 score. Jenkins believes he broke his left hand late in the 8-round match, but by then he was comfortably ahead over the faded 38-year-old Namibian, a former world title-holder at 140 pounds who had lost four of his last five heading in, with all four losses coming inside the distance.

Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin who gave Tyson Fury a world of trouble in a losing effort in 2019, returned to the ring after a 12-month absence and cruised to an 8-round decision over uninspired Kamil Sokolowski. The referee had it 79-74 for the Swede who advanced his ledger to 23-1 (14).

Wallin has had trouble finding worthy opponents. Dillian Whyte agreed to meet him in October of last year and then backed out, alleging a shoulder injury. Contrarily, Sokolowski (11-25-2) has had no trouble staying busy. This was his sixth fight in the last 11 months.

In an entertaining 10-round welterweight scrap, Samuel Antwi, a 30-year-old Londoner, successfully defended his BBBofC tittle with a unanimous decision over Wolverhampton’s Conah Walker. The judges had it 97-94, 96-94, and 96-95.

Walker entered the contest undefeated at 10-0-1 and was the aggressor throughout, but Antwi, who improved to 14-1 (6), landed the cleaner shots.

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