British super lightweights Adam Azim and Ohara Davies clashed last Saturday [October 19] in a career-defining fight where the younger and less experienced Azim faced a step-up opponent in Davies. The two headlined a Boxxer card at the Copper Box Arena in London.
Adam Azim (12-0, 9 KO’s) retained his unbeaten record in a knockout (KO) victory over Ohara Davies (25-4, 18 KO’s) who had been on the cusp of becoming the WBA interim super lightweight (140 lbs) champion in his last fight.
Azim’s performance would be the standout highlight of the card with his defensive and offensive acumen being proven in full display. Davies seemed slow and sluggish on occassion yet still managed to hit Azim with some hard rights to keep him on his toes.
Nevertheless, it was Adam Azim who would take most of the rounds, deviating from counterattacking to pressuring Ohara Davies at the right time to sharply outbox and outwork him. A 5th round knockdown from Azim on Davies eventually came to fruition after a lapse of defense by Davies ended with him being floored.
While Davies would go on to beat the count in the 5th round, he would struggle doing so in the 8th after suffering another knockdown following a combination that ended with a left hook. Azim was declared the winner by knockout (KO) as a result shortly after.
Azim’s victory over Davies has now officially put him on the map at 140 lbs and will very likely see him ranked in the top 10 with most of the sanctioning bodies he is not ranked that high with. However, expectations will also have risen following his victory, and with Azim now considered a credible title contender, there will be extra scrutiny surrounding who he fights next.
Undercard Results:
An upset occurred at light-heavyweight (175 lbs) as British contenders Dan Azeez (20-2-1, 13 KO’s) and Lewis Edmondson (10-0, 3 KO’s) met in the ring in a non-title bout scheduled for 12 rounds.
The two engaged in an extremely close fight that could have gone either way, but it was the unbeaten Edmondson―entering his 10th fight as a professional―who would come out on top despite being deducted a point in the 8th round after punching on the break.
Edmondson eventually won the fight by majority decision (MD) with scorecards of 114-114, 115-112 and 114-113, thereby claiming an upset victory against the more experienced Azeez and winning the vacant British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) British and Commonwealth Boxing Council (CBC) titles.
At welterweight (147 lbs) a similar upset occured in the title fight between British contender Michael Mckinson (26-2, 4 KO’s) and South African contender Tulani Mbenge (21-2, 15 KO’s) for the vacant IBO 147 lbs title.
Proving to be one of the more underrated contenders in the division, Mbenge showed his quality as he convincingly won the majority of rounds to eventually be announced the winner by unanimous decision (UD) with the judges’ scorecards of 117-11 and 116-112 twice.
