York Hall, London – For the vacant WBO Inter-Continental super bantamweight title, Dennis McCann (14-0-1, 8 KOs) and Ionut Baluta (16-4-1, 3 KOs) fought to a fire-fight nine round technical draw.
The scores were 86-85 for McCann, and two cards of 86-86.
It was give and take at times in the first round, with both having success. The left hand of Baluta was giving McCann a lot of problems in the second and third, creating a fire-fight where both had their moments.
The drama continued to play out as the contest extended, with Baluta really testing the resolve of McCann and making the fight very close.
Baluta had a huge seventh round, as there was a clash of heads and McCann was a bloody mess from a bad cut on the forehead. Once the blood began to pour on, Baluta was all over him with punches. In the eight, Baluta connected with a huge hook that rocked McCann, who was more than willing to fight his way out of trouble. The cut on McCann’s head was becoming increasingly worse.
During the ninth, the fight was stopped due to the serious cut on McCann’s head, with the contest being sent to the scorecards.
In a British, Commonwealth featherweight champion Nathaniel Collins (13-0, 7 KOs) demolished Raza Hamza (17-2-1) within seconds of the first round. The first right hand that connected put Hamza down hard and he was unable to beat the count as the referee waved off the fight in less than 20 seconds.
For the vacant WBC International super featherweight title, Ryan Garner (14-0, 8 KOs) dropped Juan Jesus Antunez (12-2) in the third round and then finished him off with a barrage of punches to force the referee’s hand in stopping the fight.
Raven Chapman (11-0, 2 KOs) retained her WBC International featherweight title with a ten round unanimous decision over previously undefeated Lila dos Santos Furtado (9-1). The scores were 97-92, 96-93 and 98-91.
On the undercard, there were decision wins for Joel Kodua, Khalid Ali and Umar Khan.