Heavyweight Brawls and Title Fights: O2 Undercard Highlights

The O2 undercard did not ease anyone in gently. It swung, bled and lurched its way toward the main event, a night where prospects were tested, champions cut, and reputations nudged in new directions.

Jolly denied his moment as Vianello battle ends in stalemate

The heavyweights opened the show and wasted no time turning it into a brawl.

Moses Jolly, the big Welsh hope, walked in with an unbeaten record and the look of a man who wanted to own the stage. Across from him, former Olympian Guido Vianello, rebuilding after a patchy spell that included defeats to Efe Ajagba and Richard Torres Jr., knew he could not afford another misstep.

From the first bell, both fought like they understood the stakes. Jolly, the naturally larger man, dug early and often to the body, thudding in hooks that made Vianello visibly uncomfortable. The Italian replied with the cleaner, sharper work upstairs, snapping Jolly’s head back with eye-catching counters.

The tone changed in the second. Both men were marked up, both swinging with bad intentions, and the action turned ragged. They clinched, wrestled, and still somehow found room to launch wild, looping combinations that threatened to end it at any moment.

Jolly then seized control. Two savage overhand rights crashed into Vianello, shots that would have folded lesser men. Vianello absorbed them, but the psychological edge swung. Jolly knew it. He blew a kiss to the crowd, bounced to the music in his corner at the bell and looked like a man enjoying himself on the biggest night of his career.

His early body work told by the fourth. Vianello was breathing heavily, forced to suck in air between exchanges, yet he refused to fold. He began to find pockets of success on the inside, sneaking in counters and short, tidy shots that kept him competitive even as Jolly pressed forward.

By the sixth, the momentum had shifted again. Jolly’s output dipped to single jabs, his work rate sagging. Vianello capitalised, timing him on the way in and landing enough to drag himself right back into a fight that had threatened to run away from him.

The final round arrived with the contest finely poised. Both men tried to find a finish, but the knockout never came. When the referee’s score of 76-76 was announced, it felt like a gut punch for Jolly, who had dominated long stretches of the first half. Vianello survived, Jolly was denied a breakout win, and the heavyweight division gained another unfinished story.

Ursu survives a war and Vaughan’s fury to keep his belts

If the opener was wild, the British welterweight title fight between Constantin Ursu and Ben Vaughan went a level darker. This was attrition.

Ursu, defending his British crown for the first time after dethroning Owen Cooper, walked in as the more polished boxer. Vaughan arrived as the hungry challenger, fresh from rebounding after a points loss to Bobby Dalton for the English title.

The early rounds belonged to Vaughan. He tore into the champion, roughing him up, crowding his work, and refusing to let Ursu extend his arms and find that rear uppercut he kept searching for. Ursu’s jab did its job, bloodying Vaughan’s nose and taking the edge off some of the incoming shots, but he still got clipped by punches he had no business absorbing.

Vaughan’s plan was clear: break the champion down from the waist up. He sank heavy shots into Ursu’s body, trying to drain the legs, and for a while it worked. Ursu looked uncomfortable, reactive rather than authoritative.

Then the tide turned. In the fifth, Ursu finally began to land with real consistency. A nasty cut opened above Vaughan’s left eye, blood streaming down and into the socket. The sight lifted Ursu. He started to let his hands go, driving Vaughan back and finishing the round in command.

The sixth was brutal. Now Ursu carried a cut of his own over the right eye. Both men were slick with blood, trading in the pocket, neither willing to give ground. Ursu’s punches carried more venom; Vaughan’s resolve kept dragging him forward.

They rose for the eighth looking like they had been through twelve. Before they could resume, the referee and ringside doctor took a long look at Vaughan’s damaged eye. The verdict was swift. The cut was too severe, the risk too great. The fight was waved off.

Ursu retained his British and Commonwealth welterweight titles via eighth-round TKO, but he left with questions attached. His offense is undeniable. His defense, again, looked far too open for a man with bigger nights on the horizon. Vaughan, beaten but far from broken, left with credit and the knowledge that he had pushed the champion to uncomfortable places.

Hysa detonates on ‘The Last Viking’

Heavyweight power can make a ring feel very small, very quickly.

Nelson Hysa, the undefeated Albanian holding the WBO Global title, stepped in with Thomas Narmo – “The Last Viking” – who arrived with a perfect record of 14 fights, 14 knockouts. On paper, it was a collision of punchers. In reality, it was a countdown to one mistake.

They began tentatively, two giants pawing with jabs, each trying to read the other’s reactions. Narmo’s exits from range told the story. He pulled back with his chin high, his balance loose. Hysa saw it, smirked, and mentally banked the information.

When he went for it, the ending was sudden and savage. An overhand right crashed through Narmo’s defenses, detonating on the jaw and sending “The Last Viking” toppling to the canvas. He dragged himself upright, but his legs betrayed him and his eyes were gone. The referee stepped in before the inevitable damage followed.

First-round KO. Hysa moved to 25-0 and kept his WBO Global belt. One clean shot, one emphatic reminder that at heavyweight, one lapse is one too many.

Noakes outworks Berinchyk and steps back toward world level

The chief support carried a different kind of tension. Less chaos, more chess with malice.

Sam Noakes, still rebuilding after a punishing loss to Abdullah Mason, came in off a routine stoppage win at York Hall and a point to prove on the big stage. Denys Berinchyk, an Olympic silver medallist and former WBO lightweight champion, arrived still bearing the scars of a knockout defeat to Keyshawn Davis that had cost him his belt.

From the opening bell, Berinchyk refused to stand still. He circled, dipped, slid away from danger, and flashed his well-schooled jab. Noakes stalked him with heavy intent, every punch loaded, but struggled to pin the Ukrainian down or land anything clean.

Berinchyk’s movement and ring craft frustrated the Englishman. Whenever Noakes closed the distance, Berinchyk darted out of range or clipped him with sharp counters. In the fourth, switching southpaw, he snapped in a couple of stinging left hands that reminded Noakes he was dealing with a man who had operated at the very top.

Noakes refused to be discouraged. He kept trying to drag Berinchyk into a fight, targeting the body whenever he could get close enough. He knew he had to slow those springy legs, make the ring feel small.

By the fifth, the pressure began to tell. Noakes started to herd Berinchyk into the corners, using a stiff jab and combinations in twos and threes to head and body. It was not domination, but the direction of travel was clear: Noakes walking forward, Berinchyk increasingly forced to trade.

As the rounds ticked by, the ring shrank around the former champion. Noakes’ physicality and size became a problem Berinchyk could not solve for long spells. The Ukrainian’s fast hands still flashed in spots, forcing Noakes to accept he would have to eat one to land one. Yet Berinchyk’s reactions to the body shots betrayed discomfort. Noakes kept digging downstairs, banking damage for later.

Heading into the final round, it felt close but tilted towards the Brit. Noakes had outworked Berinchyk over the majority of the fight, but the veteran found late success when he stayed a little closer, whipping in uppercuts and lead hooks that snapped Noakes’ head back.

The judges sided with the volume and pressure. All three scored it for Noakes, handing him a unanimous decision and, with it, a renewed foothold at world level.

On a night when the main event rewrote heavyweight history, the undercard quietly set up future storylines of its own. Jolly will feel aggrieved, Ursu exposed and emboldened in equal measure, Hysa menacing, and Noakes once again within touching distance of a world title shot. How many of them will still be standing when the next big O2 night rolls around?