{"id":329131,"date":"2025-12-06T23:17:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T23:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/329131\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T23:17:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T23:17:18","slug":"johnny-fisher-survives-early-knockdown-to-win-rollercoaster-comeback-fight-against-ivan-balaz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/329131\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnny Fisher survives early knockdown to win rollercoaster comeback fight against Ivan Balaz"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Johnny Fisher<\/a> survived a shock knockdown in the first round to win his comeback fight on Saturday, stopping Ivan Balaz in the fourth round in Monte Carlo.<\/p>\n

Fisher entered Monaco on the back of the first defeat of his professional career, a disastrous showing against former training partner Dave Allen<\/a> in May. <\/p>\n

In fact, that loss followed Fisher\u2019s controversial decision win over Allen in December, and it meant the \u201cRomford Bull\u201d was under immense pressure on Saturday, as he faced late replacement Balaz.<\/p>\n

And his boxing<\/a> future looked up in the air when he was dropped in the very first round, having been rocked by two left hooks. The referee did not actually rule the moment a knockdown, seemingly taking issue with some grappling from Balaz between the two punches, yet Fisher was clearly hurt.<\/p>\n

With just over 30 seconds left in the round, the 26-year-old rose back to his feet but perhaps too quickly, and he teetered towards Balaz before surviving to the bell.<\/p>\n

Early in the second frame, Fisher was drawn into further dangerous exchanges while still unsteady, whereas Slovakia\u2019s Balaz appeared composed.<\/p>\n

\"Johnny<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Johnny Fisher was floored by Ivan Balaz in the first round (Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)<\/p>\n

Fisher did soon clip Balaz with his best shot of the fight, but only in the immediate aftermath of a low blow, which saw the referee instantly dock Fisher a point.<\/p>\n

Upon the resumption of the round, Balaz wobbled Fisher again, but the 29-year-old seemed to tire somewhat in the third frame. <\/p>\n

Before the fourth, Fisher spoke cogently in his corner to his new coach Tony Sims, who replaced Mark Tibbs this year<\/a>, and Sims\u2019s advice proved crucial.<\/p>\n

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Fisher dropped Balaz with a left hook in the fourth round, before flooring the Slovak with another within seconds of the restart. One more knockdown saw the official stop the fight, leading Fisher to shout into the crowd: \u201cF***ing come on! I\u2019m alive, don\u2019t give up!\u201d<\/p>\n

In his post-fight interview, Fisher said: \u201cAbout a year ago, I said, \u2018I\u2019m not a Man[chester] City, I\u2019m not an AC Milan; I\u2019m a Stoke City.\u2019 Well, it turns out I\u2019m a Romford United. We keep going. <\/p>\n

\"Fisher<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Fisher celebrates after scoring three quickfire knockdowns of Balaz (Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s lots of things I\u2019ve got to do better, but that will come in time with my new trainer, Tony Sims. Very much so, [I was] too eager. When you\u2019re fighting big men like this, they come out swinging themselves. I maybe left myself a bit too open.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I guarantee every time you watch me: you\u2019re gonna get your money\u2019s worth. We\u2019re gonna keep going and going and going until I can\u2019t go anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was all on the line, so when I went down, something ignited in me \u2013 what my dad said to me, what my grandad would have said to me. I\u2019ve got heart, but the tactics will come. We\u2019re building something good here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fisher\u2019s promoter Eddie Hearn<\/a> added: \u201cI don\u2019t think people realise how much pressure there was on him tonight. You lose in here tonight, you\u2019re talking about, \u2018Where do you go?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to him on the ramp: \u2018Just take your time.\u2019 He did anything but that, but he came through, and it\u2019s probably the experience that he gained in those two fights [with Allen] that saw him through.<\/p>\n

\"Fisher<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Fisher celebrates his wild victory over Balaz (Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to make it so exciting all the time! That was a really pivotal moment in his career. He showed a lot of heart to come through that. He\u2019s gonna be much, much better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fight marked the third bout in a row in which Fisher was knocked down, as he fought Balaz on just a few days\u2019 notice. Balaz, who was unbeaten prior to Saturday, was stepping in for Uganda\u2019s Herbert Matovu.<\/p>\n

Fisher, now 13-1 (11 KOs), has long had a strong following \u2013 in part due to the online presence of his father, internet personality \u201cBig John\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-329131","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}