Levi Giles vs Razaq Najib was the main event from an evening of boxing brought to you by Carl Greaves and Fightzone. Giles defeated Razaq Najib via Majority Decision in his hometown of Grimsby to capture the Commonwealth Silver Super Featherweight championship.
The bout between Giles (14-1) and Sheffield’s Najib (12-5) looked a mismatch on paper, but ended up far closer than most people predicted. The 10 round contest between the pair was filled with competitive action, but Giles carried more power than his opponent and visibly hurt Najib multiple times. Najib was a game opponent throughout working ugly and up close, but wasn’t as effective when operating at range. Najib took a lot of damage towards the end of the fifth round as Giles began to unload, but kept a stiff upper lip and survived the round.
Najib picked up a small cut in the eighth round as damage began to take its toll. Both men were visibly tired by the final round, but both were targeting a knockout, with Giles the closer of the two.
Razaq Najib seemed to cause some crowd disturbance after the final bell. Najib made a wanking motion towards the crowd, who in turn appear to have been fighting off camera. That’s the first time I’ve written that.
After a short plea from the MC for the crowd to calm down and to focus on the boxing, the scorecards for Levi Giles vs Razaq Najib were read. 95-95 even, 98-93 Giles and 97-94 Giles, giving Levi Giles a Majority Decision victory.
This marks Giles second victory of 2023 since his controversial loss to Michael Gomez Jr for the British title in March on Sky Sports. Giles lost the 10 round Super Featherweight bout via Split Decision despite arguably showing the boxing skills, but has now captured his first championship.
Elsewhere on the card, James Richardson suffered a heavy knockout against Edvinas Puplauskas, with doctors immediately entering the ring. Puplauskas was a late notice replacement for Richardson and carried a clear threat. Richardson was knocked out in round three when Puplauskas landed a left hook stunning his opponent, and followed up with a flurry of shots ending in a clean left hook. The referee waved the count, but Richardson was able to rise to his feet and leave.
Kirsty Hill defeated Angelika Oles via Points Decision
Tom Pogson defeated Jake Darnell via Points Decision
Harvey Elding defeated Jake Pollard via Points Decision
Shaydon Walmsley defeated Joe Hardy via Points Decision
Owen Edwards defeated Josh Cook via Points Decision.
The event was broadcast for free on https://www.fightzone.uk/ and replays on the event can be viewed there too.