LONDON, England – Fran Hennessy put on a convincing display, stopping outgunned and overwhelmed Italian Aurora De Persio in six rounds at Wembley Arena.
The 21-year-old, trained by former pro Bradley Skeete, was pushed to the wire by Ellie Bouttell in January but was too fit and industrious for De Persio, who was halted 1.39 into the round.
De Persio picked up a second-round warning for use of the head as Hennessy developed a nasty swelling under her right eye. Referee Kevin Parker took the visitor to one side to address the roughhousing.
Hennessy scored with several shots in the third but lacked the firepower to deter the Italian although there were signs that De Persio might be tiring. She was breathing heavily and Hennessy backed her up with some right hands.
At the end of the fourth, and with De Persio flagging, Hennessy nailed her with a couple of lefts to the body and the Italian, while landing the odd left hook, was having to swim against the tide. Hennessy enjoyed a prolonged spell of pressure to close out the fifth when Parker had a brief look at stopping it, but De Persio did just enough to hang in there. But she was exhausted and on borrowed time.
Hennessy came out quickly in the sixth and initially De Persio tried to stay with her but she was soon forced to hold, struggling to cope with Hennessy’s variety and the stoppage, when it came, was just.
De Persio is now 8-2 (3 KOs). Both women are only 21.
Joel Kodua said he is targeting major titles after defending his English welterweight belt at Wembley Arena.
Kodua, 12-0 (3 KOs), from Dagenham, defeated York’s Will Harrison, who is 8-0-2, after the challenger was withdrawn after eight increasingly lop-sided rounds.
Neither were able to put a dent in the other.
Harrison scored with occasional right hands and Kodua tried to control the tempo the contest was fought at, choosing when to engage and doing so on his terms. He was deliberate and hr persevered with right hands to Harrison’s body throughout and he took over as the fight progressed. Harrison sported a jagged cut over his left eye after the eighth, which had seen him regularly picked off as Kodua surged forward and his corner withdrew him at the end of the round.
There were stars in the corner for both with Josh Warrington with Harrison and Anthony Yarde with Kodua.
Harrison is trained by Warrington’s father and coach, Sean O’Hagan, while Tunde Ajayi, who works with Kodua, also trains Yarde.
Kodua paid tribute to the late Tony Cesay, a pillar of the London boxing community, who recently passed away from motor neurone disease.
Earlier in the night, Saqib Mehmood blitzed Simas Volosinas in a round having primarily broken his opponent down to the body. When Volosinas hit the deck, Mehmood started doing press ups in the corner. New fans might like that kind of viral moment. Older fans would have found it disrespectful. Take your prick.
Mehmood is now 3-0 (1 KOs) and promoter Ben Shalom afterwards said his performance merited a contract with Boxxer. Volosinas, from Lithuania, was stopped for the 14th time in what amounted to his 129th career defeat.
Bodywork was a key part of Ergal Elezaj’s victory over veteran heavyweight southpaw Dan Garber.
The fight had become one-way traffic the longer it went and, with Garber spewing blood from a wound by his left eye and under attack, former pro journeyman Lewis van Poetsch waved it off in the fifth.