After latest win

make a statement with a spectacular finish and it was that recklessness which cost him.

In the third round, easily one of the best of the heavyweight scene this year, he was knocked down by the bigger Breazeale, but rallied and responded with big right hands which caused swelling under the American’s left eye. Breazeale also hit him after the bell, an act ignored by the referee.

In the fourth round Ugonoh knocked down Breazeale, but in a bid to finish the fight appeared to overextend himself and he finished the round exhausted.

Breazeale made him pay early in the fifth round, knocking him down twice with powerful round hands, the final time through the ropes. Presumably up on the judges’ scorecards, it was a devastating way for Ugonoh’s evening to finish.

In a non-televised earlier fight, Kiwi Junior Fa extended his record to 10-0 with a TKO win over American Keith Barr. It was Fa’s first fight under new promoter Lou Di Bella. WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder maintained his unbeaten record with a fifth-round knockout yesterday.