The 2300 Arena boxing crowd in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania witnessed something that has not happened on live TV in a long time. Oleksandr ‘The Nail’ Gvozdyk successfully defended his WBC light-heavyweight title against Doudou Ngumbu. The way the fight was stopped, however, was bizarre.
In the 5th round, Ngumbu was backing away from Gvozdyk’s offensive attack when all of sudden he buckled against the ropes writhing in pain. Now Gvozdyk did not land a punch on him, nevertheless, he was in a lot of pain.
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Referee Eric Dali stopped the action to check on Ngumbu and gave him some time to continue the fight. Ngumbu, however, was in so much pain that he was unable to continue. As a result, Referee Eric Dali stopped the fight, and Oleksandr Gvozdyk was awarded the 5th round TKO victory, thus retaining his WBC light-heavyweight title.
After the fight, the boxing world learned that Ngumbu suffered a lower leg injury in the 5th round that caused him not to continue in the fight. Watching Ngumbu awkwardly stumble against the ropes without being hit has not been witnessed on live TV in a long time.
It was a sad moment to see Ngumbu weeping in the corner after the fight because he could not finish. Fighters go through so much to get to the point of fighting in a boxing match. With that said, you could feel Ngumbu’s pain.
Conclusion
During the post-fight interview, Gvozdyk was asked who he wanted to fight next. Gvozdyk responded that he wants to rest, for now, spend time with his family, and then let his teamwork out the details as to who he will fight next. The light-heavyweight division is stacked with good fighters.
It is not clear as to who the best light-heavyweight is as of yet. In the next 2 years, however, hopefully, the top light-heavyweights will start fighting each other so that the boxing world can get a clear picture as to who will be the real sheriff at light-heavyweight.
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