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Radivoje Kalajdzic drops Craig Richards to hand him dramatic hometown defeat at the Copper Box Arena in London | Boxing News

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Radivoje Kalajdzic turned Craig Richards’ London homecoming into a nightmare.

Richards, fighting in his home city for the first time since 2024, was looking to force his way back into the world title picture.

But “Hot Rod” Kalajdzic savagely supplanted him, taking a unanimous decision after handing Richards a heavy knockdown in the closing seconds of the contest.

In their tremendous 10-round battle, Richards was badly wobbled in the sixth round, only for “Spider” to come back with fierce determination himself.

Just as Richards was dominating the last round, lashing “Hot Rod” from one set of ropes to another with well-judged body hooks and hard crosses to the head, Kalajdzic counter-attacked viciously.

He darted in with a combination, knocking punches against Richards’ head. Then in the closing seconds of the fight, Kalajdzic landed a stunning right, that toppled Richards all the way over.

He flopped onto his side. Somehow Richards rose, but his legs were shaking beneath him. The bell rang to save him from a cold finish but Kalajdzic won unanimously, 97-92 for all three judges,

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Craig Richards was saved by the bell after being knocked down in the dying seconds of the last round by Radivoje Kalajdzic.

Lee Cutler’s nickname might be “Chaos” but he was all about control as he defused the threat of Louis Greene over 10 rounds.

Greene is heavy-handed, and after a quiet start he clipped the Bournemouth man, hurting Cutler and momentarily buckling his legs.

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Lee Cutler put in a clinical performance to claim a convincing points win over Louis Greene at Zuffa Boxing 11.

Cutler recovered himself, reeling off a right of his own to start the fourth round. He smacked in a one-two but Greene stood close in hacking at Cutler with punches.

To pin down Cutler, Greene needed to link his punches into combinations. However he was throwing single shots, albeit hard ones, while Cutler outmanoeuvred him.

Greene found his urgency in the 10th and last round, but Cutler withstood the assault, tying up Greene when he had to to win a unanimous decision, 98-92 and 97-93 twice.

Kayla Allen, the first female fighter signed by Zuffa Boxing, was too much for Hungarian veteran Edina Kiss.

Allen kept her shape, gloves high, as she moved well on her feet. Soon she was bombarding Kiss.

A clean cross landed in a combination, knocking Kiss back a few paces. Gamely Kiss tried to club punches back at her at the start of the second round but Allen asserted herself, the right smacking into the Hungarian’s chin and she brought through a hard left as well. With Kiss turning away, Allen shook Kiss up. The Hungarian stumbled into the ropes and the referee issued a count.

Allen meted out punishment in the third round, lining up straight one-twos and Kiss retired on her stool at the break.

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Kayla Allen stops Edina Kiss in an impressive pro debut at Zuffa Boxing 11.

Alex MacMillan delivered another stunning finish in his second consecutive fight. From the opening bell he stormed after fellow unbeaten prospect Guillaume Azagier, cutting off the ring. He feinted at the body but struck mercilessly to the head. A huge right over the top dropped Azagier heavily in the first round.

MacMillan didn’t need a further invitation. He stayed on him and smashed him back to the canvas before the end of the session.

In the second round, he rapidly had Azagier reeling and as the towel sailed in from the corner, MacMillan put him down a third time to end the fight.

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Alex Macmillan kicked off the main card with a huge TKO win at the Copper Box Arena.

Mexican Olympian Rogelio Romero maintained his 100 per cent knockout ratio in his seven-fight pro career as he handed a first defeat to Moldovan puncher Aurel Ignat.

The heavy-handed Romero hammered Ignat with southpaw left hooks. He hurt the Moldovan, but Ignat returned fire.

In the third round Romero forgot his mouthpiece and started taking hits.

Troubled by Ignat’s fightback, Romero solved his problems with a hellacious right hook that left Ignat wobbling and saw the referee stop him on his feet.

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Rogelio Romero forgot to put his gum shield in and received a punch in the teeth but the Mexican continued and won the fight seconds later!

Fred Pullen, a national amateur champion for West Ham, made his professional debut, handling Italy’s Leonardo Faretina over four rounds.

The London southpaw’s lead right fired in at the start of the second round to drop Faretina. But the Italian rose quickly and proved obdurate for the rest of the contest. Pullen controlled the bout with his sharp-shooting, winning 40-35.

In a well-matched eight-rounder top American prospect Alexis De La Cerda and Ireland’s Cain Lewis put their unbeaten records on the line.

De Le Cerda ramped up the pressure and by the sixth the mobile Lewis was cut and bleeding. The Irishman dug in and drove De Le Cerda back in the last round, but the American won a unanimous decision, 80-72, 79-73 and 79-74 for the judges.

Cesar Mateo Tapia came out strongly against Leo Ruiz but couldn’t sustain it as the latter took over their 10-rounder, finishing well to win unanimously, 97-93 and 96-94 twice.

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N Ireland 0 – 0 Hungary

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Northern Ireland were left frustrated in a 0-0 draw at home to Hungary that looked to be there for the taking.

Patrick Kelly twice went close in the first half and Isaac Price was denied by Balazs Toth late on, but Northern Ireland could not find a goal which would have made it a perfect start to the campaign in Group B2 of the Nations League.

They looked the better side against higher-ranked opposition who struggled to create chances until the latter stages of a night when Liverpool star Dominik Szoboszlai’s most notable contribution was to charge up the Windsor Park crowd.

There were nervous moments in the closing stages as Ruairi McConville made a key block from Willi Orban and Pierce Charles saved from Alex Toth to preserve his fifth clean sheet in seven competitive appearances for Northern Ireland.

It means Michael O’Neill’s side have lost only one of their last 10 games in Belfast, and they looked resolute again with Hungary managing only one shot on target.

The major frustration for O’Neill will be the number of yellow cards shown by referee Ricardo De Burgos, with four Northern Ireland players – Shea Charles, Jamie Donley, Isaac Price and Ethan Galbraith – going in the book along with the manager himself.

Coming off the back of Friday’s last-gasp 1-0 win in Tbilisi and enjoying the roar of a Windsor Park crowd for the first time in 315 days, Northern Ireland were quick to get at Hungary with a strong press, picking off hurried passes from the visiting defence.

That led to chances for the busy Galbraith and Price early on before Trai Hume sent a shot from the edge of the area narrowly wide.

Northern Ireland’s best two chances of the first half both came for Kelly. Just after the half-hour mark, Price slipped it through and the Barnsley midfielder tried to chip Blackburn’s Balazs Toth but could not get enough height on the shot with the goal gaping.

Then Tom Atcheson flicked on a Ciaron Brown long throw, and although Shea Charles could not reach the ball as he tussled with Milos Kerkez, it fell for an off-balance Kelly who looped it up on to the top of the crossbar.

Hungary were not enjoying Northern Ireland’s physical approach as they struggled to threaten and tempers began to fray.

After Donley became the third home player to be booked O’Neill also saw yellow for his protests and the half ended in confrontation after Charles left Daniel Lukacs in a heap challenging for a high ball.

Hungary began to get forward more after the break. Schafer sent a snapshot wide inside the box, then missed the target from long range after a short free-kick before Donat Barany headed over from a corner.

Northern Ireland were struggling to get forward as they had in the first half, but from a free-kick pumped into the box Price spun away from Kerkez before seeing his shot saved at the near post.

At the other end, McConville threw himself in front of a close-range strike from Orban and Charles repelled a powerful strike from Bournemouth’s Alex Toth as time ticked down.

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Martin Odegaard criticises Bernardo Silva challenge after ankle injury: 'It does not belong in football'

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The Arsenal captain was visibly angry after the challenge during Norway’s 2-1 loss to Portugal and approached Bernardo to confront him.

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AEW wrestler Benjamin Satterley, known as Pac, dies aged 40

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The announcement came just a day after he competed in the opening match at AEW’s All Out event in Chicago on Saturday.

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