At the Legon Sports Stadium in Accra, Ghana, Craig Richards knocked Dan Azeez in the 12th round to take the vacant IBF International light heavyweight title.
Richards (20-4-1, 13 KOs) headed into this one off the back of a win over Padraig McCrory in eight in Belfast in March, while Azeez (22-3-1, 14 KOs) had won twice since a majority decision loss to Lewis Edmondson last October, winning twice at low-key level, the last in Nigeria in October.
It was a close first round that Richards shaded on his jab, but a hard left to the body levelled matters for Azeez, before ‘Spider’ again got his jab going to re-establish control in the third.
A straight right hand from the 35-year-old stunned Azeez at the end of the fourth, but the Lewisham man battled back well, landing with the heavier blows as the contest reached halfway.
Richards was starting to motor, banking several rounds, and Azeez was noticeably breathing heavily between rounds, taking several power shots in round eight.
‘Spider’ was starting to pull away with his superior workrate, taking round after round, and going into the final round, it looked like Azeez needed a knockout to emerge victorious.
It would be Richards that would find the equaliser though, as in the final frame, a flush left hook landed that poleaxed Azeez and the contest was waved off by the referee.
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Undercard
The other 12-rounder on the card saw Theophilous Kpakpo Allotey take the vacant WBO Global super flyweight title with a hard-fought points win against Jayr Raquinel (18-3-1, 14 KOs).
Scores of 119-109, 118-111, and 116-112 ensured Allotey (13-0, 10 KOs) went home with the belt.
Ibrahima Diallo claimed the vacant IBF International super welterweight title in the sole 10-rounder, taking a decision win against Sampson Segbedzi (10-1, 7 KOs).
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Two scores of 99-90 and a third at 98-91 saw Diallo (13-0-2, 2 KOs) crowned the champion.
Light heavyweight prospect, Jonathan Tetteh (11-0, 10 KOs) took a points win against Freezy Macbones (11-1, 10 KOs) and Sedem Ama (5-0, 2 KOs) was a second-round winner in her clash with Chiamaka Nwaturuocha (3-1, 3 KOs).
The only six-rounder came at welterweight, where Nishant Dev (5-0, 3 KOs) stopped Ally Mbukwa (8-6, 2 KOs) in the fourth-round of their meeting, and in the only four-rounder, Leo Atang (3-0, 3 KOs) needed less than 90 seconds to stop Babu Yusuf (3-1, 1 KO) at heavyweight.
