Anthony Joshua beat Konstantin Airich with a third knockout, adding to his unbeaten streak. Anthony Joshua is one of the brightest prospects in boxing; Joshua won gold at 2012 London Olympics, and seems to have the physical and technical ability to have a bright future in the professional ranks.

Joshua started the first round looking extremely sharp, landing clean and hurtful jabs, in addition to landing the right hand against Arich. Joshua continued to show his strong jab and right hand in the second round. Airich survived though, and was able to start the third round, the only opponent to date who has seen the third round against Joshua. However, Joshua landed a terrific right hand in the third round which hurt Airich; Joshua followed up and landed a flurry of punches, with one landing when Airich was on the canvas. Airich survived the count, and the referee proceeded to warn Joshua with the punch when Arich was on the floor. After the warning, Joshua looked to finish Arich, and after landing some hurtful punches, the referee stopped the fight, as Arich was seriously hurt. After the fight, Eddie Hearn looking to progress the quality of Joshua’s opponents. Another impressive victory for Joshua.

The fight between Anthony Crolla and Gamaliel Diaz for the WBO Inter-Continental Lightweight ended on a disappointing note, with a clash of heads and a cut to Gamaliel Diaz meant that the fight ended in a technical draw, due to the fight being stopped before four rounds.

Both fighters started at a measured pace, with the first few rounds being hard to differentiate between the two fighters; Crolla was active and measured with the jab, with Diaz landing solid body shots on the inside. A clash of heads at the end of round three opened a serious cut over the eyelid of Diaz. Diaz stayed on his stool when the bell rang for Round 4, and the referee waved the fight off on advice  due to an accidental handbutt. After the fight, Crolla expressed his disappointment of the outcome of the fight, however the promoter of Crolla, Eddie Hearn, stated that he is planning for Crolla to fight WBA lightweight World Champion, Richard Abril, in his next fight.

In an entertaining fight, Sam Eggington was victorious against Denton Vassell via 8th round TKO for the eliminator of the British welterweight title; it was a competitive fight, with both fighters having success before the impressive finish by Eggington. Eggington started the fight looking sharp, landing clean punches against Vassell. In the third round, Eggington landed a terrific left hook, which stunned Denton Vassell; Eggington continued to catch Vassell with clean and hard punches throughout the round, with Vassell showing courage and heart to survive the round. However, this seemed to awaken Vassell, who made the fourth round a competitive and punished Eggington in the fifth round with terrific inside punching, landing solid uppercuts and body shots from the inside and went upstairs to hurt and stun Eggington with terrific straight punches to the chin. The next few rounds were competitive, with both fighters landed good punches. In the 8th round, Eggington stunned Vassell and followed up with landing accurate combinations, stunning Vassell and the referee stopped the fight, with Vassell in no state to continue.

Scott Cardle scored an impressive first round knockout victory over Kirk Gooding to remain undefeated at 16-0 (4KOs). Both fighters started at a quick pace; Cardle knocked Gooding to the canvas with a well-timed counter uppercut after Gooding was defensively open throwing punches. Gooding survived the count, but Cardle continued to land successive punches, especially the straight right hand. After a number of unanswered right hands, the referee stopped the contest, a stoppage which seemed a tad premature. Regardless, Cardle made an impressive statement with this victory.

– Qadeer Ali / @abdulqadeer

– Contributor for www.BehindtheGloves.com

Anthony Joshua MBE says sparring with Heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko has him fired up for his clash with Konstantin Airich at the Phones 4u Arena in Manchester on Saturday, live on Sky Sports.

The London 2012 Olympic star spent ten days with the IBF, WBA, WBO, IBO and The Ring title holder and 1996 Olympic champion in Austria ahead of Klitschko’s now-rearranged title defence against Kubrat Pulev.

Joshua has yet to go beyond two rounds in the paid ranks but German-based Kazakh Airich brings a wealth of experience to Lancashire this weekend with 17 KO wins and 153 rounds in the bank – so Joshua expects his time with Klitschko to be invaluable.

“I felt I belonged there but Wladimir is different to everyone else,” said Joshua. “He’s been the champ for ten years, he’s in a league of his own. For me to be where Wladimir Klitschko is there’s a lot of work to be done. I can see myself potentially being there, but to own it and make it look easy, there’s a little bit of work to be done. I feel I am talented enough to become the World champion, but to stay there for as long as he has, keep defending the titles and stay hungry for it, that’s what I need to learn.”

On Saturday Joshua adds Manchester to London, Liverpool, Sheffield, Glasgow and Cardiff to the list of major cities he’s boxed in as a pro, and on October 11 he returns to the scene of his debut at The O2 where he’ll box for his first pro title just after a year in the paid ranks – and while the level of his opponents are stepping up, his mind-set remains the same as he targets a British title shot in 2015.

“Having fights lined up in advance just shows me how confident certain people around me are,” said Joshua. “Boxing is a long career and you are only as good as your last fight, so I want to keep progressing and doing so in a good fashion. I’ve just got to keep on winning.

“I always wanted to win the ABAs, long before I even dreamed of winning Olympic gold. Every title is a stepping stone and the World title is like the Olympic gold, so the British title is like the ABAs. I’d love to box for the British title outdoors at Watford’s ground, these are little dreams I have but if there are other opportunities that are better for my development then that’s the way we will go.”

Joshua’s clash with Airich is part of a great line-up of action in Manchester as Scott Quigg defends his WBA World Super Bantamweight title against Stephane Jamoye, and his gym mate and fellow Manchester star Anthony Crolla defends his WBO Inter-Continental Lightweight title against Gamaliel Diaz.

Scotty Cardle challenges Kirk Goodings for the English Lightweight title with the fight also an eliminator for the British belt, the first of two exciting eliminator contests for the coveted Lord Lonsdale strap as Welterweights Sam Eggington and Denton Vassell clash while local favourites Liam Hanrahan, Sam Hyde, Hosea Burton, Jimmy Kelly and debutant Marcus Morrison and Derbyshire’s Jack Massey are all in action.

Tickets are on sale priced £30, £40, £60 and £100 via www.phones4uarena.co.uk or by calling 0844 847 8000. £150 VIP packages are exclusively available through www.MatchroomBoxing.com/tickets or by calling 01277 359 900.

– PRESS RELEASE

Price has new opponent as Airich withdraws

Comebacking heavyweight David Price will face a new, albeit less difficult opponent tomorrow night in his debut under the Sauerland Event banner.

Price was initially set to meet gatekeeper Konstantin Airich, but a medical issue forced Airich to pull out during fight week. The new opponent is journeyman Istvan Ruzsinksy (12-9, 8 KOs). The fight takes place on the undercard of the much-anticipated rematch between cruiserweight champion Marco Huck and former titlist Firat Arslan.

‘’It is unfortunate but these things are part of the game,’’ said promoter Kalle Sauerland. ‘’We are happy to have found a suitable replacement who was due to be fighting already and will be in top fighting fit condition.’’

Price is coming off back-to-back devastating knockout losses at the hands of Tony Thompson of the United States. Former promoter Frank Maloney retired from the game, and Price has jumped to Sauerland, who has a deep stable of heavyweights, including unbeaten Kubrat Pulev.

-Mark E. Ortega / @MarkEOrtega

-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com