Joe Joyce vs Christian Hammer – Results & Post-Fight Report

Joe Joyce defended his WBC Silver and WBO International heavyweight titles at the OVO Arena in Wembley, and moved closer to a world title shot, as he stopped Christian Hammer in the fourth round of their scheduled twelve rounder.

Joyce (14-0, KO13) came into the bout on the cusp of world honours, as WBO number one contender, but has recently been frustrated at trying to lure former WBO boss Joseph Parker into a meeting. Joyce was last out in in July last year, stopping former world title challenger Carlos Takam in six rounds, while Hammer (27-10, KO17) had lost four of his last seven outings, but had been in with some quality names including Hughie Fury.

Joyce began off a strong jab, although he had to take several stiff right hands from the visitor in the opening round. Joyce was getting tagged with regularity, and easy to hit in the opening stages, but he had set a high pace, and Hammer was feeling it as Joyce teed off in the third in a much better round for the Putney man, and a chopping left hand had him on the deck right at the end of the round. It was more exhaustion than anything that felled Hammer, but the end was nigh, and a body shot had him on the canvas right at the start of round four. Hammer survived the count again, but was over once more, and, after resuming again, a body shot finally ended matters, and Joyce took the win.

Chief support came in the form of Jason Cunningham (31-7, KO7), a man who was in the form of his life, but he found the former two weight world champion, Zolani Tete (30-4, KO23) too hot to handle, as the South African scored a chilling fourth round knockout to take Cunningham’s Commonwealth and IBF International super bantamweight titles, as well as the vacant WBO International strap. Tete had Cunningham on the deck twice prior to the knockout, and the final knockout blow was a massive left hand with Cunningham on the retreat. The Doncaster man required oxygen post fight, but was thankfully ok.

The undercard was severely hampered by the withdrawals of Callum Johnson and Nathan Heaney, and Mark Chamberlain (11-0, KO7) took his chance to catch the eye, taking the vacant IBF European lightweight title with an excellent points win over former European champion, Marc Vidal (13-3-5, KO5). Chamberlain was stepping in for Sam Noakes, who withdrew through injury.

A left hand dipped the knees of Vidal in the opening round, and the pattern was set, with Chamberlain barely able to miss during the bout that he dominated. Vidal had never been stopped, and it was easy to see why as the Spaniard was tough as nails. Chamberlain eventually had his hand raised by three scores of 100-90.

Tommy Fletcher (1-0, KO1) made his professional debut, and the six foot seven Mark Tibbs trained cruiserweight needed under a minute to dispatch of Arun Vrnogo Gregorio (1-1, KO1) a short, chopping left hand had Vrnogo over inside thirty seconds, and after beating the count, the end wasn’t far in coming, as Fletcher landed another short left that forced the referee to end the fight.

Micky Burke (7-0, KO3) banked six decent rounds, defeating the durable Serge Ambomo (7-32-3, KO3) in their super welterweight affair. Burke was given a decent examination by the Cameroonian, eventually taking a 60-55 verdict.

In the show opener, Henry Turner (8-0, KO1) remained unbeaten, taking his super lightweight contest against Jake Laskowski (4-17-1, KO4) by six round shutout. Turner is still yet to lose a round as a professional.