Shabaz Masoud Defeats Liam Davies in Thrilling Birmingham Battle

On Saturday, November 2, at the bp pulse live in Birmingham, England, Shabaz Masoud (14-0, 4 KOs) became the new IBO super bantamweight champion in a Queensberry Promotions main event, defeating Liam Davies (16-1, 8 KOs). The entire card was shown live on TNT Sports 1 and Discovery+.

Shabaz Masoud Defeats Liam Davies in Birmingham

Masoud vs. Davies Fight Recap

The opening round saw Masoud pick his punches well and move effectively to avoid the counters from Davies. The second round saw Davies force the pace more, but “Maverick” looked comfortable, picking his shots.
The fourth sound saw the Telford man start to close the gap and do some smart work inside, but Masoud looked slick. The sixth round saw the champion again close the distance, working well on the inside and mixing his shots. Masoud must keep the fight long like he did in the first few rounds.

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Round eight saw both men have their moments but the cleaner work came from the Rochdale native. The tenth saw Davies land some nice shots to the body before Masoud regained his composure. If this goes to the scorecards, it will be close, because it’s all down to what you like best.

Over the final few rounds of the fight, Masoud boxed well on the back foot and engaged at the right times. Davies did apply pressure and had his moments, as he did in the final round, but “Maverick” produced the more eye-catching work. I had it 8-4 for Masoud as both gathered in the ring to hear the cards. A special shoutout to both sets of supporters who were fantastic throughout the 12 rounds. The judge’s scorecards read 115-113 for Davies while the other scorecards read 115-113 and 116-112 for “Maverick” who is the new IBO super bantamweight champion by a split decision.

Post Fight Quotes

After the fight, the new champion reflected on his triumph and said: “This has been a long time coming… this is my moment.”

Davies paid tribute to Masoud after the fight: “Well done to Shabaz, I want him to enjoy his moment” 

“It was a great fight and they should both be proud of themselves,” said Frank Warren, talking about the main event.

Undercard

Chantelle Cameron (20-1, 8 KOs) successfully defended her WBC interim world super lightweight title, with a unanimous decision win against Patricia Berghult (17-2, 4 KOs). The judges scorecards read 99-91, 100-90 and 98-92.

Ekow Essuman (21-1, 8 KOs) defeated Ben Vaughan (10-1, 3 KOs) by majority decision in a 10-round war to successfully retain his WBO European welterweight title. The first scorecard read 95-95, while the other two judges gave it 97-94 and 97-93 for Essuman.

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Ezra Taylor (10-0, 7 KOs) blew away Kristaps Bulmeistars (12-3, 5 KOs) in just 24 seconds of their light heavyweight clash. He landed a huge right hand and despite his opponent getting to his feet, he was clearly unsteady, resulting in the referee waving the fight off. A big step up in opposition is now needed for “The Cannon.”

Eithan James (13-1, 0 KOs) returned to winning ways defeating Jermaine Osbourne-Edwards (11-1, 1 KOs) by a unanimous decision in their English welterweight title eliminator. The judges scorecards read 99-92, 99-91 and 97-93.

Lewis Williams (1-0, 1 KO) impressed on his debut stopping Lamah Griggs (3-10-1, 0 KOs) in the second round of their heavyweight contest. Griggs still looked unsteady on his legs after the first knockdown with the referee waving the bout off in the second round following another heavy shot. An impressive debut from the 2022 Commonwealth gold medallist.

Preliminaries

Bradley Thompson (6-0, 2 KOs) continued his unbeaten start, defeating Sean Jackson (0-26-1)in their super flyweight fight. The Telford man seemingly sold a lot of tickets with plenty of support for him. He was a bit over-eager in parts but controlled the distance better as the fight progressed. A deserved 40-36 win.

Eoghan Lavin (3-0, 1 KOs) was in no mood to hear the final bell, knocking down Remi Scholer (4-13, 1 KO) in the opening round with a beautifully timed left hand before flooring his opponent again in the second. Despite beating the count, the corner of Scholer soon retired their fighter in the second round of the middleweight contest.

Mykyle Ahmed (2-0, 1 KO) impressed once again, dominating Yin Caicedo (10-25-4, 4 KOs) in their super flyweight bout with the referee scoring the fight 40-35 in favour of the Sheffield fighter, with his opponent deducted a point for persistent holding.