Andre Ward (right) hits Alexander Brand with a clubbing right
Undefeated Andre Ward used a steady left hook to outpoint Alexander Brand to take the WBO Intercontinental light heavyweight championship in Oakland, California, on Saturday night.
Ward (30-0) was never seriously threatened by Brand (25-2), the 39-year-old Colombian who lost for the first time since 2012.
Ward stunned Brand early and opened a small cut over his right eye while winning every round in a dominant performance.
Ward is in position for a long-anticipated bout with unified light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. That fight has already been pencilled in for November 19 in Las Vegas.
That would be Ward's third fight in eight months, overtime for a boxer who fought only three times from 2012 to 2015.
Joshua Buatsi stopped Kennedy Katende in the third round
Team GB's Joshua Buatsi sent out a warning to his light-heavyweight rivals with a third round stoppage of Kennedy Katende at the Rio Olympics.
The 23-year-old made an impressive Olympic debut, halting his experienced Ugandan opponent in the third round of a one-sided bout, to register the first stoppage win of the Games.
Buatsi had taken command from the opening bell, unloading a flurry of punches as Katende backed to the ropes, and quickly slowed him with spiteful hooks to the body in the first round.
The Team GB fighter was far too powerful for Katende
Katende fell to the canvas in the opening minute of the second round, although the referee ruled it as a slip, but Buatsi clearly found the mark with a sharp body shot that left his foe sagging on the ropes.
The bout would be brought to a sudden halt in the third as the wilting Katende regained his feet after toppling over, only to be caught by a succession of right hands from Buatsi, which prompted the Ugandan corner to throw in the towel.
Eddie Hearn is putting together plans for Anthony Joshua's next title defence
Promoter Eddie Hearn would consider Hughie Fury as the next opponent for Anthony Joshua, but fears the Mancunian's issues outside the ring could hinder fight plans.
Peter Fury has guided his son Hughie to a 20th straight win in April
Hearn, who is planning Joshua's next title defence at the end of the year, revealed there had been fresh interest in the fight following past offers, but is unsure whether Hughie can go ahead with a shot at the IBF belt.
The Matchroom Boxing boss exclusively told Sky Sports: "We've offered Hughie the fight a couple of times in the past and last week Peter dropped me a line asking if we are still interested in the fight.
As I understand it, Hughie has a UKAD hearing in November so I'm not sure how that will affect things.
Eddie Hearn
"We are talking to a few possible opponents about a November fight for AJ and as Hughie is in the IBF top 15, I'm happy to put him in the mix.
"As I understand it, Hughie has a UKAD hearing in November, so I'm not sure how that will affect things."
Hearn has three other opponents on his shortlist for Joshua, which are the IBF's mandatory challenger Joseph Parker, former WBC champion Bermane Stiverne, and current European title holder Kubrat Pulev.
Britain has more world champions than ever before, but who are the trainers masterminding the national boxing boom?
After Carl Frampton's momentous victory over Leo Santa Cruz secured the WBA Super featherweight title, the UK boasts no fewer than 14 men in possession of world crowns, with several more surging towards chances to add to the tally.
Those guiding the fighters are not necessarily singing from the same hymn sheet (think back to Shane McGuigan's on-stage shoving match ahead of Frampton v Scott Quigg), but rivalry can inspire trainers as well as boxers. Furthermore, public debate over Britain's finest extends beyond the champions to their mentors.
Here, we profile some of the wise men helping their charges tighten the UK's stranglehold on world boxing...
Joe Gallagher
Factfile
World champion(s): Anthony Crolla, Liam Smith Selected others: Callum Smith, Scott Quigg
For more than two months over the New Year, Gallagher trained a trio of world champions in Quigg, Liam Smith and Anthony Crolla. In January, he was named Trainer of the Year by the prestigious Ring Magazine and recently outlined his plans to guide Quigg back to the top, as well as oversee Callum Smith's coronation.
Diligent and outspoken, Gallagher is not everyone's cup of tea but his results speak for themselves. He has an uncompromising approach to fitness but it's his tactical decisions that come under most scrutiny. The Mancunian was widely criticised for Quigg's passive approach in the first half of the Frampton showdown but was then showered with praise for Crolla's dismantling of the dangerous Ismael Barroso.
Cuba's Joahnys Argilagos (right) sent Galal Yafai home
Galal Yafai suffered an agonising split decision defeat to world champion Joahnys Argilagos at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
The 23-year-old Yafai was up against the light-flyweight division's No 1 seed in Cuba's gifted 19-year-old and was edged out 29-28 29-28 28-29, despite taking the fight to his opponent throughout.
There was little mystique about Yafai's tactics, as he came out determined to walk his man down. Seizing the initiative was always going to be a risky business against a man of Argilagos' talents, and the world champion served a warning with an early two-punch combination.
The pair exchanged solid left hooks in the opening minute but it was the Cuban's work that looked the neater as he used his classy-looking reflexes to pick some accurate jabs off the back foot. Yafai tried to up the ante again with a committed surge but Argilagos rubber-stamped the first round with a late combination.
Galal Yafai (left) lost to Joahnys Argilagos at the Olympics in Rio
There was further entertainment in the second as Yafai burrowed forward again. Argilagos found several neat short lefts but was forced to hold in the second half of the session with the underdog looking to up the tempo once again.
Slight controversy followed, when Argilagos was allowed a pair of free shots on Yafai with the female referee failing to make her instructions clear. Yafai responded upon the official resumption with a decent straight left only to be tagged again before the bell.
The Cuban continued to hold on the inside with little intervention from the referee but was eventually dragged into some heavy exchanges that seemed to leave both men tiring. An eye-catching right uppercut from Yafai proved the shot of the final round but it was to be too little too late and he was left shaking his head when the scores were confirmed.
Argilagos, who is nicknamed 'The Tiny Giant', moves on to the quarter-finals having been granted a bye in the first preliminary round.
A despondent Yafai told the BBC afterwards: "There are no positives. I've lost so there are only negatives. I thought I did enough."
There was similar heartbreak for Irish hope Paddy Barnes, who was eliminated from the same competition by the same method as Spain's Samuel Carmona advanced.
The Jackal has warned the Santa Cruz (32-1-1-KO18) team's "sour grapes" will not have any impact, and any return will not be taking place in Los Angeles, where they have suggested.
Carl Frampton has laughed off claims that he should've been on the losing end of the decision
"It looks like there is going to be a rematch and I am happy about that," he told Sky Sports in an exclusive interview.
"It was a good fight last time and I feel like I won it and I do feel I can win a rematch more convincingly - if I box with my head a bit more than my heart.
"But it's potentially going to be my next fight. I'd like to get out before the end of the year, in December. I just want the Christmas off but there are no injuries, Santa Cruz hasn't got any, nor have I, so why not?
Carl Frampton wants to fight Leo Santa Cruz in December - and not in Los Angeles
"The Odyssey Arena is the biggest indoor arena we could do it in in Belfast but it holds 9,000 and this fight probably requires a bit more.
"I would love to bring him to Belfast. I would love to show the people of Belfast a fight with a world-class fighter like Santa Cruz.
"Hopefully we will bring it to Belfast but it might be New York again, or Las Vegas. One thing for sure is it's not going to be in Los Angeles where he wants it, because I am the champion."
Two-weight world champion Carl Frampton is a brand ambassador for MSC Nutrition
Santa Cruz's father, Jose, insists his son won and was on the wrong end of a majority decision in what could well be nominated as Fight of the Year for 2016.
Frampton, though, admits he has watched the fight back "a few times" and felt he won by "at least three rounds" and laughed off the losers' claims.
"We've seen what he's said and Santa Cruz seems to say what his dad tells him to do," he said.
"My dad said 'I won this fight', my dad says 'I will win the next one', my dad says 'I will knock him out' and so on.
"It was a wee bit of sour grapes but I suppose that happens. He is a big name, he was expected to win and he thought he was going to win but he lost so you have to expect it a wee bit."
Steve Collins thinks Carl Frampton will become Ireland's greatest fighter
Frampton's win saw him crowned a two-weight world champion after moving up from super-bantamweight after winning a unification fight with Scott Quigg in February.
"I feel I am very strong at featherweight so I am here for the foreseeable future, but if I move up to super-featherweight - which I want to do at some stage of my career - it's for legacy reasons," said Frampton.
"To move up and win a world title, you are talking about a three-weight world title from Ireland. That is almost Hall of Fame stuff.
"Maybe then they could say I was one of Ireland's greatest ever fighters."
Carl Frampton is a two-weight world champion and could move up to super-featherweight
Carl Frampton is a brand ambassador for MSC Nutrition, a high-performance sports nutrition brand which supplies products to semi-professional and professional athletes. All MSC Nutrition products are tested under the strict guidelines of WADA through Informed Sport and LGC Laboratories, thus ensuring athlete safety.
