Saturday night at the Copper Box Arena in Hackney sees precocious talent Adam Azim attempt to climb further up the ladder, as he takes on a twelve rounder at super lightweight against former world title challenger, Ohara Davies in the main event.
Ben Shalom’s BOXXER promote Azim vs Davies and Sky Sports televise the bill live in the UK and Peacock in the USA.
Azim (11-0, 8 KOs) caught a lot of eyes in a string of early wins in 2022, culminating in a second round stoppage of Rylan Charlton in November of that year, but he then had to go the full ten rounds to get his hand raised in his two subsequent contests in 2023.
‘The Assassin’ rounded off the year by capturing the European title, stopping Franck Petitjean in ten rounds.
The 22-year-old was last seen defending that belt, halting Enock Poulsen in five, and he makes the step up to meet Davies (25-3, 18 KOs) this weekend.
His 32-year-old rival has had a career with many ups and downs, and the Hackney man rebounded from losses to Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall by working his way up the world rankings.
‘Two Tanks’ went on a run of seven straight wins after the Catterall loss, which included a win in the MTK Golden Contract tournament, and a ninth round knockout of Lewis Ritson in March last year, that earned a crack at the WBA title.
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Davies would have to travel to Las Vegas to contest the belt against Ismael Barroso, but the Venezuelan caught him cold, scoring a stoppage win inside two minutes in January.
Prediction: Azim is the much fresher man here, and it depends how much ambition Davies has left at this stage of his career. I think Azim may blitz him much like Barroso did, and can win early.
Azeez battles Edmondson
The undercard sees a really intriguing clash, as Dan Azeez goes up against Lewis Edmondson for the vacant British title.
Azeez (20-1-1, 13 KOs) has seen his stock drop of late, and it began when he lost his British and Commonwealth crowns to Joshua Buatsi in April, with the Croydon man taking a clear points win after knocking Azeez down twice.
The 35-year-old then attempted to shake off some rust in June against the unheralded Hrvoje Sep at Selhurst Park, but the Croatian took a draw after eight rounds, and looked unlucky not to win.
He now takes on Edmondson (9-0, 3 KOs), a man who has only been eight rounds once, and that was in his most recent outing against Joel McIntyre in May.
Prediction: Azeez must correct the mistakes made in his last outing, and I feel he has that bit more seasoning that Edmondson, and can take the title for a second time with a late stoppage win.
McKinson meets Mbenge
Michael McKinson goes for the vacant IBO welterweight title on this card against South Africa’s Tulani Mbenge.
McKinson (26-1, 4 KOs) doesn’t have the most fan-friendly in style, but has a great engine, and since losing to Vergil Ortiz Jr in nine in August 2022, he has won four on the spin.
Mbenge (20-2, 15 KOs) gave Souleymane Cissokho a good examination in December 2022, going down by majority decision, but has only fought once since.
Prediction: The pick is McKinson to take a points win here.
Yarde returns
Anthony Yarde has been through promotional wrangles with Queensberry, but appears on a BOXXER card here, and he should have little trouble in his scheduled ten rounder at light heavyweight against Ralfs Vilcans (17-1, 7 KOs).
Yarde (25-3, 24 KOs) has won twice since giving Artur Beterbiev a decent argument last February, whilst Vilcans is unbeaten in two outings since a sole professional loss down at super middleweight.
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Prediction: Yarde should have way too much for the Latvian here, likely scoring a stoppage before halfway.
Remaining Undercard
The other ten rounder on this card comes at heavyweight, where Jeamie TKV (6-1, 3 KOs) can win inside schedule against Franklin Ignatius (6-0-1, 1 KO).
The sole eight rounder is at bantamweight, where Fran Hennessy (4-0, 1 KO) should bank a points win against Ana Karla Vaz De Moraes (5-0, 2 KOs).
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In four rounders, former world champion, Shannon Courtenay (8-2, 3 KOs) makes a comeback after nearly two years away, and she can win on points against Catherine Tacone Ramos (4-3-1), while middleweight debutant, Sam Hickey can also win on the cards against John Henry Mosquera (5-18, 1 KO).
