Jordan Gill vs Zelfa Barrett Fight Results: Barrett Scores 10th Rd TKO

It was a night of the hometown heroes in Manchester as Billy Graham’s cameo was the icing on the cake as Zelfa Barrett entertained in a superb, world-level, domestic clash where he stopped a tough Jordan Gill and Anthony Crolla made history at the AO Arena.

Undercard Results

Anthony Crolla entered the arena, where he won his first world title. Not only did he guide his brother to victory, but he also won his first world title as a coach as he oversaw his charge, Rhiannon Dixon, claiming her first world title.

The comedic Welshman Brandon Scott opened the show in Manchester in true funny-man style. He was sporting a pink, inbetweeners Pussay Patrol t-shirt and entered the ring as a professional for the seventh time. This was Scott’s first fight since August 2023, as he had been recovering from a hand operation.

‘The Baddest Nerd On The Planet’ cruised through the first half of the bout in control as he dictated with his jab and showed a fantastic shot selection. However, as the fight entered its second half, Scott looked like a fighter who had been out of the ring for eight months. He started to get caught, leading him to mark up, swell, and bleed while also visibly tiring.

The referee scored the bout 58-56 to the undefeated Brandon Scott, who was eventually made to work for his victory.

The next two prospects were former amateur rivals Williams Crolla and Jimmy Sains. First up was Manchester’s own William Crolla, who is looking to follow in his brother’s footsteps as a future World Champion. Crolla made light work of his opponent, Cascone, who couldn’t make it to the second minute, never mind the second round, as William Crolla impressed, yet again, with his body attacking as he dropped his foe twice before the referee counted the Italian out.

The Mancunian left Eddie Hearn so impressed the promoter advised his team to get a promotional contract drafted up and signed back in the changing room, “I thought we’d already signed him. I just said to the lads ‘pull your finger out and get it done,’” the promoter tells the Behind The Bell stream during Crolla’s post-fight interview.

No sooner had Crolla stepped out of the ring than Jimmy Sains had stepped into it draped in green and gold as he looked to make an impression of his own, and that he did as he cut his opponent open over his left eye leaving Kalecki, seemingly, visibly impaired forcing the referee to call in the ringside doctor to ensure the fighter was okay to continue fighting, which he decided he was.

Into the second round, Sains hurt Kalecki with a body shot, which led him to focus his attention on following up on his body attacks. However, the Essex fighter got a little too excited, finding his shots straying too low for the referee’s liking as he stopped the action twice. As Kalecki tires, unable to find any answers for Sains’ class, the referee, Steve Gray, has seen enough punishment served up as Sains steps through the gears, forcing a stoppage with the clock at 2:47 into round four, taking Sains’ perfect record to 4-0 stopping every opponent.

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog, El Terrier, Jack Turner shows that the little guys can bang with the best of them.

In Jack’s first five fights, he had stopped every opponent inside the first round, so Matchroom drafted in the tough Tanzanian Abdul Kesi Ngaoma, who entered the ring with a record of seven wins, six by knockout, one draw, and five losses getting stopped just once, in the final round of his last outing. However, whenever Jack Turner is fighting it is a case of blink and you’ll miss it.

The young man Tony Bellew believes will be the next best fighter to hail from Liverpool made light work of his opponent as he dropped him twice, sending him across the ring onto his back the second time with a huge left hook. The referee had called time on the fight at 1:14, saving a protesting Ngaoma from further punishment.

During the fight week press conference, Michael Gomez Jnr looked into his opponent, Kane Baker’s eyes and told him that this fight would not hear the final bell and that one of the pairs would fall. This fight did not disappoint, as the pair could’ve fought in a phone box and still found room to move as they stood toe-to-toe throughout. It would be easier to prise Siamese twins apart rather than these two men.

Gomez Jnr was landing the more eye-catching shots and combinations throughout the contest, but Kane Baker was always right there, not taking a step back as he took what Gomez had and dished out his servings of punishment too, as he bloodied the face of the hometown fighter.

As the pair met in the middle of the ring for round six, the fight was over. It took 36 seconds for Baker to hit the canvas twice, the second time off the back of a ferocious shot, leaving Baker’s body falling in a sickening way as his head bounced off the canvas, forcing the referee to wave the fight off immediately seeing no need to administer another count.

The sixth fight of the evening saw Jordan Flynn take on a potential banana skin against Maharusi, risking his future grudge match against Cameron Vuong, who was in attendance to witness what turned out to be a poor and frustrating evening for Flynn despite the victory. Vuong entered the ring post-fight to market their upcoming clash, which will be announced in the coming days as the paid stood face-to-face as Cameron Vuong tells his opponent, “I would’ve made mincemeat of him, it was a terrible performance,” before Flynn shoved his rival forcing the pair to be split by security.

The first of the two scheduled women’s world title fights saw Rhiannon Dixon claim her third title in as many fights, but this time, she claimed the crown every boxer aims for: the world championship. The bout was a cagey affair as neither woman wanted to give too much away, but the pivotal moment in the fight was a strong, short hook from Dixon, sending Carabajal crashing to the canvas in the third round, leaving the Argentinian with a cut over her right eye which caused her trouble throughout the remainder of the fight.

Once the knockdown had occurred, it was cruise control for Dixon as she didn’t overcommit herself, while Carabajal seemed not to want to engage, potentially due to feeling the power of Dixon in the third round. The fight went the ten-round distance, and as the pair stood in the center of the ring, one of them would be crowned champion. The judge’s scorecards read 98-91, 97-92, and 96-93, all scoring the bout for Rhiannon Dixon.

Ellie Scotney Becomes Unified & Ring Magazine Champion

Manchester boxing legend Billy Graham accompanied Ellie Scotney to the ring, holding her IBF world title above his head as the pair approached the ring.

Scotney unified the 122lb division and claimed The Ring Magazine title in just her ninth fight, handing Segolene Lefebvre her first defeat in 19 fights. After a couple of cagey opening rounds, the fight opened up nicely as Scotney found success and maintained that success throughout the fight.

Rounds five to seven saw Scotney’s class shine through before the final few rounds saw a frustrated Lefebvre try every trick in the book, from hitting after the break and leaning in with her head, which, if anything, only provoked Scotney to be more spiteful. The judges scored it unanimously in favor of Scotney 99-91, 97-93 and 96-94.

To warm up the crowd before the main event was Ste Clarke in his second professional contest. He faced Jensen Irving, who proved to be one tough man, and Clarke looked the stronger and better boxer in the ring. Clarke’s fans were out in full force as the noise took up a notch in the arena, and the Liverpudlians sang. Clarke took every round convincingly as the judges scored the bout 40-35.

Zelfa Barrett Closes The Show In The Tenth Round

“The time is now,” echoed David Diamanté across the arena as Jordan Gill stood across from the hometown favorite, Zelfa Barrett, as the pair ready themselves to provide the boxing world with the main event.

Gill started the fight strongly on the front foot, applying relentless pressure, which he sustained through the duration of the bout. Barrett, however, seemed relaxed, looking slick defensively, as he found openings to the torso of Jordan Gill.  Zelfa showcased a superb jab during the fight, which was key to his success in boxing on the back foot against the aggressive pressure fighter.

As the fight reached the midway point, one of Gill’s eyes started to bruise and swell, which filled Barrett with confidence and left his fans baying for blood as they called for Zelfa to up the tempo and pursue a knockout. The pressure from the Peterborough man just wouldn’t stop as he continued to push forward, taking the center of the ring and making it his home while Barrett boxed off the back foot.

As the fight entered the tenth round, it really was a pick-em fight. Do the judges prefer Barrett’s defensive work, or do they like the come-forward aggressor in Jordan Gill? This question didn’t need to be answered, as Barrett gave his fans what they were looking for.

Gill seemed to absorb a devastating body shot before a delayed knockdown saw him grimace in pain. Now, the Manchester fans were uncontrollably demanding the stoppage. Like a shark-tasting blood, Barrett knew what he had to do now. The chink in the armor was located, the Achilles heel targeted, and the baby blue RDX glove was driven into the body of Gill once more, sending him crashing back to the canvas just moments after he’d dragged himself from it before.

He’d done it once, and he’d done it again; Jordan Gill had risen from what looked certain to be a ten count. However, after a barrage of shots raining down on the champion, the referee dived in to save the helpless Gill as Manchester crowned a new champion in Zelfa Barrett, who hopes now he can follow in the footsteps of his hometown heroes, Anthony Crolla, Terry Flanagan, Scott Quigg, and Ricky Hatton in becoming Manchester’s next World Champion.

James Lupton

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