World Boxing News provides live results for the 5 vs 5 event, topped by Wilder vs Zhang in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Winning boxers score one point for a victory and two for a knockout. A draw earns zero, while captains’ scores get doubled.
Wilder vs Zhang 5 vs 5 results
Zhilei Zhang took Deontay Wilder out in the fifth round of a strange bout where both men felt each other out too long. Zhang did the better work in round four before taking Wilder out in the fifth. Wilder spun around and was in no man’s land as Zhang ended his career.
Daniel Dubois defeated Filip Hrgovic after taking the best the Croatian had and claiming the IBF interim heavyweight title. Hrgovic threw his defense and jab out of the window, but Dubois kept coming back despite the barrage. Hrgovic was cut over both eyes and in the end, the doctor stopped the fight in the eighth.
Hamzah Sheeraz gave Queensberry an insurmountable lead by scoring a captain’s stoppage to score four points for his team. The early stages were even against Ammo Williams before Sheeraz took over after three rounds.
Sheeraz landed the eye-catching shots, swelling Williams over the eye and bloodying his mouth and nose. The mid-rounds softened Williams up before Sheeraz got the job done late on.
Nick Ball claimed the WBA featherweight title in an unbelievable gutter war between two warriors at 126. In another close world title shot, Ball gave everything – having already beaten Rey Vargas – only to be robbed on the scorecards. Ford started slowly and took a few rounds to work Ball out. The Liverpool man’s high work rate seemed to throw Ford off initially.
But through round four until the end, both men threw everything at each other. Ford cut Ball, bloodying his nose after suffering a cut over his eye himself. But in the later rounds, Ford hurt Ball more than once and may have done enough. However, after Ball’s loss against Vargas, nobody could begrudge “The Wrecking” the win. After twelve rounds, Judges scored 115-113 [twice] for Ball and 113-115 for Ford for a split verdict.
Willy Hutchinson and Craig Richards engaged in an absorbing war in the opening match-up of the 5 vs 5 Tournament. The light heavyweights saved the best for the final few rounds as they gave everything to get the first points on the board for their respective teams.
As expected, Hutchinson began the brighter of the two and looked better over the first half of the content. However, Richards came back in the latter rounds and made a real contest of it. The tenth round was the standout and undoubtedly a Round of the Year contender as leather flew, and the pair looked spent as they took solid shots.
The eleventh continued the trend as both men left it all in the ring going into the last. Hutchinson cruised the last, knowing he had it in the bag despite an incredible battle in the latter part of the fight. In the end, judges carded for Hutchinson 119-109, 117-111, 116-112, but that didn’t tell the full story.
Score: Queensberry 10 – Matchroom 0.
Special feature – Bivol vs Zinad
In the special feature attraction to replace the postponed Bivol vs Beterbiev fight, WBA light heavyweight champion Dimtry Bivol took out Malik Zinad in the mid-rounds. Bivol dropped the late, out-of-depth replacement in the first before softening up his opponent and taking him out in six.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
