Conor Benn defeated former world champion Regis Prograis on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s comeback bout at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Benn won a unanimous decision, 98-92 for all three judges, and Prograis announced his retirement shortly after the contest.
Benn was revisiting the ground where he concluded his rivalry with Chris Eubank Jr last year, moving down to an 150lb catchweight after those two middleweight contests with Eubank.
Prograis, a gifted two-time world champion at super-lightweight, is in the twilight of his career and was moving up in weight for this fight. But he had enough wiles in his work to give Benn plenty of food for thought.
The southpaw found holes in Benn’s defence, landing his left to the head at times and hitting to the body.
Head clashes opened up cuts for Benn as well, giving him a further challenge to contend with.
Conor Benn was returning to the site of his victory over Chris Eubank Jr (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
But Benn’s youthful energy and consistent aggression saw him through. He swung freely with hooks, driving blows into Prograis’ trunk too.
Prograis felt his power. Benn staggered him with a one-two on the bell at the end of the first round and Benn would bomb his right cross through the middle as the fight progressed.
The American’s left cross knocked Benn back a step in the seventh round, but then Benn’s right drove Prograis off just the same.
At the start of the ninth round he harried Prograis, working with jabs. He rattled a long right hook round the former champion’s ribs and reeled off a brace of lead lefts.
Regis Prograis posed Benn some problems at Tottenham.
As the bout drew to a close, Prograis was having to rely on cussed resilience. Only good fighters, Josh Taylor, Devin Haney and Jack Catterall had beaten him before, but none of them had managed to stop him.
He held out against Benn too. With blood from his cuts masking his face, Benn chopped hard right and left hooks to Prograis’ chin but the American took the hits to last the 10-round distance.
Richard Riakporhe became a two-time British champion, and announced himself as a potent threat in the heavyweight division when he dispatched Jeamie TKV in five rounds.
TKV came in as the defending champion after his victory last year over Frazer Clarke and he looked to crowd Riakporhe. But the latter launched his booming right to trouble him in the early going of the contest.
Richard Riakporhe celebrates victory over Jeamie TKV (Photo: Chris Dean/BOXXER)
The contest grew scrappy as TKV hustled forward and caught Riakporhe up in clinches. TKV was admonished by the referee and deducted a point for leading with his head.
Riakporhe soon took matters into his own hands. A clubbing right round the side of the head saw TKV stagger to the canvas and slide away on his knees.
With Riakporhe going in to finish, TKV tried grabbing him in a hold, only for Riakporhe to toss him to the canvas.
The challenger smashed in a huge right and threw the back hand again. His left hook hit hard, the right swept across with massive force and as he struck with his left and then an uppercut the referee prised them apart, ending the fight at 2-12 of the fifth round.
“The plan is to carry on knocking these guys out. I want to challenge for the world title, I’m keeping my eye on Fabio Wardley against Daniel Dubois – I’d love to fight the winner,” Riakporhe declared.
But he also called out Johnny Fisher, saying: “I want to offer them the opportunity to fight for this belt, it’s here for you.”
Justis Huni edged out Frazer Clarke on a majority decision after their 10-round heavyweight clash.
One judge had them level 95-95 but the other two had Australia’s Huni winning 96-94.
Clarke however emerged from the defeat with credit. He had pushed Huni, a high calibre heavyweight contender, close.
Clarke pressed Huni close. (Photo: Chris Dean/BOXXER)
That was especially significant as Clarke was coming into this fight after a punishing loss to Jeamie TKV for the British heavyweight title in his last fight. The trajectory of the Olympic medallist’s future career was in the balance.
Under pressure Clarke boxed with some assurance from the centre of the ring. But it was Huni’s hand speed that proved the difference. The Australian whipped in his rapid left and varied his work well from the head to the body.
Clarke switched up a gear at the end of the fourth round, clipping Huni with a combination and then heaving in hooks to the body and an uppercut to the head.
In the ninth round a fine right cross from Huni slammed into Clarke and the Australian cracked in his right uppercut, a punch he’d utilised well.
Clarke sought to chase him down in the last round but Huni finished the bout moving on his feet, satisfied with his work.
As disappointing as the result will be for Clarke, it was a much improved performance for him in a first fight under new trainer Joe Gallagher.
