A huge right hand ended matters when English super middleweight champion Mark Jeffers defeated his Scottish counterpart Darren Johnstone in five rounds Saturday at the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff, Wales.
Johnstone had bravely withstood a tumultuous fourth round, with Jeffers attacking with both hands. And while Johnston, now 8-1 (5 KOs), rode out the storm, then, as he took his back to the ropes early in the fifth, Jeffers clubbed away with left and right hooks, and it was one with the right that put Johnstone down and out.
It was a heavy knockdown, and Johnstone was tended to in the ring for several minutes as Jeffers had the presence of mind to hold his celebrations while medics tended to his fallen rival.
Jeffers was impressive. He had worked the body well and managed to find a home for his right hand around the side of Johnstone’s left hand several times.
Born in Northern Ireland but fighting out of Chorley, Jeffers is 18-0 (5 KOs). Time of the stoppage was 1:02 of the fifth.
“We all want to win,” Jeffers said. “We all want a knockout. But the main thing is we come out safe.”
Southampton light heavyweight Lewis Edmondson hopes to get into the frame to face Ben Whittaker in the near future, and he remained unbeaten Saturday, taking his winning record to 9-0 (3 KOs) with an eight-round points win over Portsmouth’s Joel McIntyre (20-9, 5 KOs).
Welsh middleweight Kyran Jones is now 10-0 (1 KO), having won a six-rounder over Lewis Howells, 59-54. Howells (3-10 was down from a left hand in the first round.
Birmingham’s Ishmael Ellis climbed off the floor from a second-round left hand but was stopped at the end of Round 3 by Kane Shepherd. Ellis is 14-9, while Cardiff junior lightweight Shepherd improved to 5-0 (2 KOs).
Moses “The Native” Jolly is now 9-0 (6 KOs) after the 28-year-old Swansea heavyweight outscored Belgian-based Moroccan Amine Boucetta over six rounds, 60-54. Boucetta is 8-13.
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