Britain has a new heavyweight boxing champion, but only after a night of high drama and controversy as David Adeleye defeated Jeamie ‘TKV’ Tshikeva in Manchester.
There was bad blood all week in the build-up to this one for the vacant British title – with the fight topping the undercard for that Filip Hrgovic vs Joe Joyce blockbuster.
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And after all the table slamming and trash talk beforehand, we had more beef inside the ring with the most controversial of endings as Adeleye (now 15-1 with 13 wins inside distance) prevailed via a sixth-round knockout. Nothing too unusual in that result, but there absolutely was in the manner of it.
Shock ending for TKV
The end came, shockingly after the first five rounds had been evenly matched, out of the blue as Adeleye landing a short left hook a split second after referee Ron Kearney had yelled ‘break’ to end a clinch between the two fighters. ‘TKV’ (now 8-2) clearly did not see the shot coming and crumpled to the canvas in big trouble.
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Jeamie did beat the count, but he was on the wobbliest of legs and the writing was on the wall for the man from Tottenham as he desperately tried to fend off the onrushing Adeleye. It was an impossible task though and David followed up with a brutal flurry which again put TKV on the floor. This time he could not recover his senses in time and Kearney waved the fight off.
The fury was immediate in the aftermath with TKV’s corner repeatedly yelling “You called ‘break'” to Kearney as he returned their beaten fighter to his corner. And the controversy will rage on long after fight night.
Prior to that shocking climax, the two men had been evenly matched in what was turning out to be a cagey encounter. If anything TKV was just shading it, boxing smartly on the front foot as he darted in to land jabs with good variety. This had Adeleye missing with those big right hands and punching down too often at the crouching Tshikeva.
