Boxing and MMA Rounds Out Action-Packed Week

Professional combat sports delivered a thrilling week of action, highlighted by a major heavyweight boxing clash and significant title unifications, while MMA promotions also saw notable performances.

In the boxing world, former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder secured a split decision victory over Derek Chisora on Saturday, April 4th, at the O2 Arena in Greenwich. The scorecards read 115-111, 115-112, and 115-113 in favor of Wilder.

Sunday, April 5th, saw Caroline Dubois unify the WBO and WBC lightweight titles with a unanimous decision win over Terri Harper at the Olympia in London. Also on the same night, Ellie Scotney became the undisputed super bantamweight world champion, triumphing over Mayelli Flores in a dominant performance. The judges' scorecards for Scotney's victory were 99-92, 89-83, 79-74, 69-65, 59-56, 50-46, 40-37, 30-28, 20-19, and 10-9.

Other notable boxing results included Tim Tszyu defeating Denis Nurja by unanimous decision on April 4th, and Andres Cortes securing a unanimous decision win against Eridson Garcia on April 5th. Earlier in the week, on Friday, April 3rd, Abraham Montoya won a split decision against Antonio Perez, Pedro Taduran defended his IBF World Minimumweight Championship with a seventh-round knockout of Gustavo Perez Alvarez, and Rene Santiago successfully defended both his WBO World Junior Flyweight and WBA World Light Flyweight Championships by unanimous decision against Masataka Taniguchi. Zuffa Boxing 05 on Sunday, April 5th, also delivered an extraordinary knockout as Alexis de la Cerda demolished Ervin Fuller III in the third round, and Tony Hirsch scored an upset victory by out-pointing highly-touted prospect Robert Meriwether III.

In mixed martial arts, UFC Fight Night featured Renato Moicano, who returned to his winning ways by knocking down and submitting Chris Duncan in an event that took place on April 5th. The Professional Fighters League (PFL) kicked off its Pittsburgh event on March 28th with Johnny Eblen securing a first-round submission victory. Impa Kasanganay delivered a knockout win, while Ariane Lipski da Silva, Alexei Pergande, and Lazaro Dayron all earned unanimous decision victories. Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) 230 on April 3rd saw Jake Woodley defeat Shane Sobnosky Jr via unanimous decision, Elias Rodriguez win by KO/TKO, and Finn Martin also secure a KO/TKO victory.