Edwards vs. Yafai Undercard: Conah Walker Shines, Taylor Bevan Dazzles

On Saturday, November 30, at the bp pulse LIVE, Birmingham, on the Sunny Edwards (21-1, 4 KOs) vs. Galal Yafai (8-0, 6 KOs) undercard, we saw the return of Callum Smith, an all-out war with Aaron Bowen, and a dominating performance from Conah Walker (14-3-1, 5 KOs) against Lewis Ritson (23-5, 13 KOs) and so much more before the main event of this Matchroom Boxing card live on DAZN.

Conah Walker Beats Lewis Ritson in Birmingham

Walker vs. Ritson Recap

The opening round saw Conah Walker start brightly, setting a fast tempo, with Lewis Ritson looking to pick his punches. Walker also finished the round strongly, landing a big left hook, which stunned his opponent.

Over the next few rounds, the pressure from Walker was the key as he kept closing the distance and working his opponent’s body. The Newcastle native looked at his best when he worked behind his jab. Ritson tried to catch the Wolverhampton fighter coming in, but it gave him only limited success.

The sixth round saw impressive variation and work rate from the Wolverhampton fighter before Ritson fired back. The Newcastle man had his moments during the round, but the pressure from Walker was eye-catching.

The dominance from Walker continued for the majority of the fight, with both going toe-to-toe in the final round, buzzing each other. It was immense bravery from Ritson, but the Wolverhampton man was on top throughout the fight.

Both men met to hear the judge’s scorecards, which read 98-93 and 97-93 x2, giving Walker the unanimous decision victory.

Undercard

Kieron Conway (22-3-1, 6 KOs) claimed the vacant Commonwealth middleweight title, defeating Ryan Kelly (19-5-1, 8 KOs) by split decision with the judge’s scorecards reading 115-114 for Kelly, while the other two had it 116-112 and 115-113 for Conway.

Cameron Vuong (7-0, 3 KOs) took the biggest test of his career, facing Gavin Gwynne (17-4-1, 5 KOs) in a 10-round lightweight contest. Vuong ultimately came through a tough bout by unanimous decision. The judges scorecards were 97-94, 96-95 and 96-94. The judges favoured the clean work of “The One” compared to the pressure-volume punching from his opponent, who can feel hard done by, he didn’t get the verdict.

Hamza Uddin (3-0, 1 KO) continued his professional boxing education, defeating Benn Norman (7-6, 0 KOs) 59-56 in the six-round flyweight fight.

Before the Bell

Troy Jones (12-0, 6 KOs) successfully defended his English light heavyweight title, defeating Michael Stephenson (9-3, 0 KOs) by unanimous decision. The judge’s scorecards read 98-91 x2 and 97-93 all in favour of Jones.

Aaron Bowen (4-0, 3 KOs) survived an early knockdown to defeat James Todd (4-4-2, 0 KOs) by fifth-round KO. A brutal left hook body shot was enough to win this middleweight war.

Ibraheem Sulaimaan (6-0, 4 KOs) showed patience and spite in his work as he stopped Marvin Solano (24-21, 8 KOs) in the second round of their super featherweight contest with a brutal left-hand body shot.

Taylor Bevan (1-0, 1 KO) impressed in his debut stopping Greg O’Neill (7-9-1, 1 KO) in brutally efficient style in round number two of their six-round super middleweight fight.

Former super middleweight world champion Callum Smith (29-2, 21 KOs) successfully returned to the ring in an eight-round light heavyweight bout, defeating Carlos Galvan (20-14-2, 19 KOs) by fifth-round TKO.