Ohara Davies made a statement as he booked his place in the final of the Golden Contract tournament.
The super-lightweight, who is managed by MTK Global, stopped Jeff Ofori in six rounds at York Hall in London.
Davies, now being trained by Angel Fernandez, stopped Logan Yoon in the quarter-final of the tournament at the famous Bethnal Green venue back in November and he got the better of former Southern Area champion Ofori in similar fashion.
Ofori was dropped at the very end of the third round from a right hand from Davies and was forced to watch the eight count before heading back to his corner.
The man who was brought into the tournament on just 24 hours’ notice, just a week after handing Ged Carroll his first loss before outpointing Kieran Gething in the quarters, showed plenty of ambition after his earlier setback and forced ‘OD’ back onto his heels.
The sixth round, though, was the one when Kieran McCann stepped in to call a halt to proceedings after just 66 seconds of the stanza.
Davies, who was shaking out the right hand at the end of the fight, nailed Ofori with a right hand and as the man who was picked stumbled back into the ropes, he continued the barrage and forced the finish.
The former WBC Silver super-lightweight champion Davies secured a £7,500 knockout bonus and will now have his eyes on the second semi-final between his arch rival Tyrone McKenna and ex-European welterweight champion Mohamed Mimoune.
“Jeff was a lot tougher than I thought he would be,” said Davies in the aftermath. “For this fight, he was fit, he was sharp and I was shocked. I got hit with some big shots, but I’ve fought through the pain. My right hand, I think, has gone, but I’m not too worried because I’ve got a few months off now and it can heal itself.”
Meanwhile, Elliot Whale secured his second professional victory at the scene of his debut. Whale, the 22-year-old from Kent, was up against Lee Hallett. Hallett had won just once going into the fight and that statistic didn’t change as Whale was deemed the victor by a 40-36 margin.
Burim Ahmeti got the show underway with a points win over Ryan Hibbert, who slipped to 0-6, by a margin of 40 points to 36 across four rounds on his professional debut. Ahmeti now 1-0 following successful debut.
There was also a clash between a pair of debutants as William Hamilton took on John Shearer. Both boxed as amateurs for the fabled Repton Amateur Boxing Club in London but their times at the establishment didn’t coincide. Shearer, who only got the call for the fight on Thursday, is looking to go in the away corner and make some money and he got on the road to doing just that as Hamilton, who is looked after by MTK Global and had been set to make his debut towards the back end of last year, dropped him twice. The referee called a halt to proceedings at two minutes and 54 seconds of the second round, giving Hamilton his first win as a pro.
And Inder Singh Bassi advanced his record to 2-0 after getting a four-round shutout win over Hull-based Lithuanian Zygimantas Butkevicius.
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