Kal Yafai wants title fight after first round KO win
Kal Yafai blitzed Dixon Flores inside the opening round of their clash at the Genting Arena in Birmingham this weekend – and now wants to face WBA king Kohei Kono.
Yafai raced out of the traps and floored Flores inside the opening 30 seconds with a pair of hooks to the head, and although the Nicaraguan got up and fought back, Yafai whipped in a devilish left hook to the body that folded Flores in stunning style.
Yafai followed younger brother Gamal in landing a key win on the night and said that he wants to bring the Japanese champion to England this summer.
“I saw the opening and I took it,” said Yafai. “Once I landed clean, I knew he’d be in trouble. Trust me, I hit any of these Super-Flyweights clean, its goodnight.
“I said I’d take my time and box him early on. I saw him box the WBC champion and he gave him trouble, wobbling him in the first round but I was on a mission to make a real statement.
“No British Super-Flyweight will fight me so it’s onto the World title next. Get Kono over here. All respect to Flores for coming here but when I land clean, I put them away. I dedicate it to my Mum as an early Mother’s Day present.”
Gamal Yafai shows his power in Commonwealth title win
Gamal Yafai ripped the Commonwealth Super-Bantamweight title from Bobby Jenkinson with a powerful seventh round stoppage.
Yafai dominated the champion from the opening bell and did so with his now-trademark toe-to-toe style. The Birmingham talent bloodied the nose of the Derby man early on but then had to contend with a nasty cut above the left eye himself from a clash of heads in the fourth.
Thanks to great work in the corner, the cut didn’t affect Yafai and the breakthrough he deserved came at the end of the sixth when a left jab opened the gap for a thudding right to floor Jenkinson right on the bell.
The groggy champ came out for the seventh round but Yafai smelt blood and jumped all over Jenkinson, who gamely held on until the ropes held him up following another swarming attack from Yafai and the towel came in during the count.
Yafai follows older brother Kal in landing the Commonwealth title as his first, and doing so one fight earlier than his brother in his tenth pro outing, and says that is what he can produce when he’s fully fit.
“In my last fight I had a fractured sprained hand,” said Yafai. “I had injections the week before and it went in the second round. That’s why I had a bad performance. I beat a better kid here. He was wincing and I knew he was going. It was just a case of jumping all over him and not letting him off the hook, and that’s exactly what I did.
“I knew the cut was bad. He hit me with his head in the fourth and I felt a few stars going round but I’m a warrior and I get through it.”
