Friday night at the famous York Hall sees another Frank Warren and Queensberry Promotions offering, as the big-punching Dennis McCann is handed his toughest test to date, when he vies for the vacant WBO Intercontinental super bantamweight title against perennial upsetter, Ionut Baluta.
TNT Sports is the place to see McCann vs Baluta in the UK.
McCann (14-0, 8 KOs) began his career with a string of impressive knockouts, but has shown different levels to his talent in recent times.
The Maidstone man displayed maturity in dismantling James Beech Jr to take the vacant WBC International Silver belt at featherweight in July last year by eighth round stoppage, and in his last contest, ’The Menace’ claimed the Commonwealth super bantamweight title with a stoppage of Joe Ham in the same round.
The 22-year-old now steps up in class again against Romania’s Baluta (16-4, 3 KOs), who isn’t a stranger to getting big results on these shores.
After upsetting Kyle Williams on the cards in 2019, ‘Il Capo’ then outscored former world champion TJ Doheny in Dubai, before stopping David Oliver Joyce in three, and then taking Michael Conlan to a majority decision, albeit in defeat.
2022 saw the man the 29-year-old shock Brad Foster in a points win, and he gave Liam Davies a decent argument, eventually dropping a decision.
Baluta was last out in March, taking the unbeaten record of Andrew Cain, getting off the canvas in the opener, and decking the Liverpool man in the ninth on the way to securing a split decision victory.
Prediction: This is a dangerous assignment for McCann, and he is still yet to go twelve rounds. He could be dragged into the trenches, but I back him to take a hard-fought points win.
Collins clashes with Hamza
The undercard sees rising Scottish featherweight Nathaniel Collins (12-0, 6 KOs) in action, and the 27-year-old ‘Nightmare’ defends his British and Commonwealth titles against Birmingham’s Raza Hamza (17-1-1, 7 KOs).
Collins won the Commonwealth belt in May last year with a third round stoppage of Felix Williams for the vacant crown, and in March he added the vacant British belt, halting James Beech Jr in seven rounds.
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Hamza suffered defeat for the first time last December, dropping a decision to Beech for the vacant IBO Continental strap.
Prediction: I favour the talented Collins to make it a second straight reverse by coming through on the cards in this one.
Remaining Undercard
Ryan Garner (13-0, 7 KOs) should win his first title as a professional on the bill, and ‘The Piranha’ can claim the vacant WBC International super featherweight title with a stoppage win against Spain’s Juan Jesus Antunez (12-1, 4 KOs).
The talented Raven Chapman (6-0, 2 KOs) also appears, and ‘The Omen’ should defend her WBC International featherweight title for a second time with a points win against the unbeaten Brazilian, Lila dos Santos Furtado (9-0, 1 KO).
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Six rounders fill the rest of the card.
Umar Khan (6-0) can take another distance win in his featherweight meeting with Kevin Trana (15-7-2, 9 KOs), and Khalid Ali (5-0, 3 KOs) can stop Bulgaria’s Nikola Stoyanov (3-5) at super welterweight.
Joel Kodua (3-0) can bank another points win against Eligio Palacios (8-69-5), also at super welterweight.
