WBA International light heavyweight beltholder Joshua Buatsi (14-0, 12 KOs) brutally knocked out previously unbeaten Daniel Blenda Dos Santos (15-1, 8 KOs) in round four on Saturday night at the AO Arena in Manchester, England. Buatsi, fighting under trainer Virgil Hunter for the first time, dropped Dos Santos in round two. A pair of crushing right hands laid out Dos Santos for several minutes. Time was 2:44.
In a clash for the vacant EBU super middleweight title, Lerrone Richards (15-0, 3 KOs) outboxed former WBA champion Giovanni De Carolis (28-10-1, 13 KOs) over twelve rounds. Uneventful bout with no memorable moments. Scores were 120-108, 120-108, 119-109.
Underdog Jason Cunningham (29-6, 6 KOs) upset and dethroned EBU super bantamweight champion Gamal Yafai (18-2, 10 KOs) by twelve round unanimous decision. Cunningham dropped Yafai in rounds two, four, and six en route to a 115-110, 114-111, 114-111 verdict.
EBU cruiserweight champion Tommy McCarthy (18-2, 9 KOs) retained his belt by sixth round TKO against Alexandru Jur (19-5, 7 KOs). McCarthy dropped Jur in round four and finished him in round six.
Unbeaten super lightweight Dalton Smith (8-0, 7 KOs) stopped Lee Appleyard (16-6-1, 5 KOs) in round six of a bout for the vacant English title.
Heavyweight Solomon Dacres won his professional debut by outpointing Mladen Manev over six rounds.
The ref did a horrible job. He should have stopped the fight right after the 1st shot. Buatsi SHOULD have been disqualified for the 2nd shot. Unnecessary, careless, unprofessional, and could have killed Dos Santos. It is this kind of lack of control that will prevent Buatsi from moving up to becoming a world champion. Canelo should fight him, and, beat his ass. Mark my words, a real pro like Canelo will knock Buatsi out.
I think you should watch the KD again. It was a body shot and he didn’t appear to be badly hurt. No reason for the ref to stop it!
Are you on drugs? Dos Santos was out knocked out on the 1st shot. The 2nd could have killed him.
Sorry Jennifer, this is professional boxing; until the ref. calls an end to proceedings, the fight is on. If doses Santos’ situation was that bad, and the ref. was being negligent, what was preventing dos Santos’ corner from throwing in the towel?
We’re not going to see Canelo moving up to light heavy. Also, Buatsi’s second, follow up shot was totally legal. He hit his opponent AS he was going down, not after he hit the canvas.
I have to disagree Jennifer. I think you’re going by his reaction after the shot landed and he realized that it wasn’t needed. But unless the ref is the flash from the comics.. he threw a combination and the shot landed on his way down. His knee or gloves did not touch the canvas before the punch so technically it’s a legal punch. I think you might be letting your emotions get in the way of your judgement because of his reaction and Santos crying.. also you were probably going for the loser. But if you watch it with a clear head your comment doesn’t make much sense.. not on fightnews.. maybe for an Instagram comment or something like that.
nah..this is pro boxing. the risks are obvious..reward is canelo can use roids as long as he keeps winning
For me Buatsy did it right in the knock out. It was a combination and he could not stop, and the ref had no time to stop that last punch. Buatsy is probably the most clean and gentleman pro boxer today. Next step for Buatsy a big fight against Bivol. Very interesting. No favourites for me.
Great fight by Buatsi. He is improving nicely. I will have to respectfully disagree with J.D. Buatsi was stalking DBDS and the ref is always many feet away to allow the boxers to navigate the ring. A good ref isn’t going to dive in at the first big connect like a football tackle to stop a boxer from landing another shot before the prey hits the floor. You have to consider how little time goes by, a good boxer will take that 2nd shot shot if he can get it in before the man being dropped has even hit the floor.
Some people are being trained to state that boxers should always show restraint and are “dirty” because so many refs have been jumping in the last 10-15 years and in doing so many fights are called prematurely spawning everyone to be pissed off at the event.
In this case the reaction time is very small and there is no bad blood or ill intent. Buatsi should not be DQ’d or anything of the sort. The sport has done a much better job of stopping follow up shots when a fighter is down and on one foot trying to recover. If you want to see a good example of a real dirty situation watch this small clip of Arthur Abraham and Andre Dirrell and possibly some others and then compare contrast how you feel Buatsi merely completing his combination on DBDS. There is no similarity. Buatsi reacted correctly.
This is a abraham dirrell clip I referred to of a REAL dirty situation as a real example. Entirely different than Buatsi today.
I vaguely remember this fight and there was some strange reffing.
From this clip/angle it actually looked like AD voluntarily went down without taking a shot of any note and a frustrated AA hit him when on the deck
Cunningham and Yafai had the fight of the night on the card with Cunningham’s 3 knockdowns winning him the fight in a lot closer than the judges had it.
Can’t see anything wrong with what JB did , or the ref for that matter. Surely when you’re in the middle of throwing a combination it’s impossible to stop the second shot. JB even seemed to feel bad about the second shot landing.
That was nasty. Credit to Buatsi for showing concern for Dos Santos, who was experiencing trauma from the KO.
The finish reminded me of Julian Jackson Terry Norris KO
Very easy to comment from the view on TV screen.. It was a combination he’d already let go.. Boxer did his job.. Ref did his.. Although didn’t look a heavy shot to me!!