The Fury vs Whyte undercard is in the books, with Nick Ball the show-stealer and the rest definitely happened, including Tommy Fury getting a win that could set him up to face Jake Paul. The two of them talked trash after that one was over.
Here’s a rundown of what we saw on a lousy pay-per-view undercard.
Ekow Essuman UD-12 Darren Tetley
This really might have been a lot better if it took place next week as originally planned instead of getting thrown onto this card on very short notice. Probably wasn’t gonna be a war or anything, but man this was just dire, a truly uninteresting fight to watch where neither guy was on their best form, it felt lifeless and flat on both sides.
We’d show you some highlights but there seriously just weren’t any. Essuman in particularly is usually much, much more entertaining to watch than this.
Nick Ball TKO-6 Isaac Lowe
This one wound up pretty one-sided, as featherweight Ball (15-0, 8 KO) stays unbeaten in a career-best and biggest win, and Lowe (21-2-3, 6 KO) drops his second straight, both by stoppage.
The ending here was a little unusual, with Ball sort of shoving Lowe into the ropes, where Lowe wasn’t tangled, necessarily, but had his back turned. Ball did wait for him to turn around, while Lowe seemed to be waiting for referee Victor Loughlin to step in and separate or something. Instead he ate a shot, and Loughlin stopped the fight. Lowe’s corner were throwing the towel at the same time, he was taking a beating and losing a lot of blood already.
It was definitely poor officiating on Loughlin’s part, though. I don’t think there’s any getting around that, and he is generally a good referee.
David Adeleye TKO-4 Chris Healey
Another win for heavyweight prospect Adeleye, who goes to 9-0 (8 KO). Healey (9-9, 2 KO) was a big fat guy who presented no real resistance or anything here, and the referee stopped it when he got staggered in the fourth. I say big fat guy as a big fat guy, and with respect to him getting in there. The man got to fight at Wembley Stadium on a huge card with about 40-60,000 or so already in the building. They didn’t much care, but he surely did, and he gave the effort he could.
Adeleye remains very green, but you can see why Frank Warren and the rest of the Queensberry team are investing in his development. He has raw natural gifts and flashes some good skills. If he can really put it together, he could be dangerous down the line.
Tommy Fury PTS-6 Daniel Bocianski
Referee’s score was 60-54, we had it 60-53. Fury (8-0, 4 KO) did score a fifth round knockdown, so the referee must have had some other round 10-10, maybe the opener where nobody did much of anything.
The 22-year-old Fury will now go back to seeking a rescheduled date with Jake Paul, most likely, and it’s a fight that still intrigues me. Did in December, does now. I’m not arguing for it as a top-level boxing matchup by any means, but it’s got the ingredients to be interesting. Jake Paul is no master technician, Tommy probably has him beat in skills, but I think Jake may legitimately have the bigger punch, and Tommy does get hit with right hands. But maybe he gets hit with right hands because he doesn’t much respect the power of a guy like Bocianski (10-2, 2 KO), and for fair reason.
So I say let’s see it. Whatever. Why not?