McKenzie Grabs Commonwealth Belt

At the Copper Box Arena last night, on a Frank Warren promotion, a cracking cruiserweight fight saw the Commonwealth title change hands.

The defending champion Tony Conquest was taking on the experienced but hard punching challenger Ovill McKenzie.

Although Conquest was the pre-fight favourite his slick boxing skills were to be undone by the power punching of McKenzie.

The opening round was pretty even with Conquest perhaps just shading it and the second round produced much of the same although Conquest did ship a hefty left hook late on.

The third round saw Conquest start well behind his jab and McKenzie was starting to get frustrated but in the final stages of the round McKenzie shipped a punch to land one with devastating consequences sending Conquest crashing to the canvas. Conquest climbed to his feet and looked shaky but the bell was to prevent McKenzie from finishing him off.

Round four saw McKenzie pile forward to try and finish Conquest off but the silky skills of the challenger saw him jab his way to safety and take the round. Round five saw Conquest continue to dodge the big shots thrown by McKenzie but was the champion was being stalked ominously. A right hook caught Conquest behind the ear and the champion hit the canvas for the second time.

Although Conquest tried to beat the count he was unsteady on his legs and the fight was over leaving Ovill McKenzie as the new Commonwealth cruiserweight champion.