Luicen Reid and Ohara Davies triumph at 02 arena

Both of the Hackney boxers who were in action at the 02 arena on Saturday night emerged victorious, with Lucien Reid winning his second professional fight.

Reid, a former ABA elite bantamweight champion, outpointed Spain’s Samuel Escobar in a hard competitive fight on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s Commonwealth heavyweight title victory over Gary Cornish.

With both boxers being southpaws, it made for an interesting bout, and Reid started off by slamming home hard right and left hooks to the head and body.

But the man from Homerton did not have it all his own way. A left hook from Escobar in round two shook Reid, who had to grab his opponent, but he soon regained his composure, using the right hook to take control of the fight – and referee Robert Williams scored the contest to Reid by 40 points to 37.

Reid told the Gazette: “He was more experienced than me and a very tough opponent. I have been with my trainer Peter Sims now for eight months. We’ve been working on my strength and conditioning since my last fight and I feel much fitter and stronger.”

The second fight on the bill featured Hackney’s unbeaten lightweight OHara Davies, who went into the bout having never been beaten in the ring in 18 amateur and seven professional contests.

He was up against France’s Dame Seck, who had never been stopped in his 20 previous fights – but then again he had never been in the ring against a hard puncher like Davies, who took the fight to his opponent from the start.

A right hook from Davies dropped Seck to the canvas just before the bell sounded for the end of the second round, and the Hackney boxer was in control of the third, catching Seck with jabs and hooks.

A right hook by Davies to the side of his opponent’s head floored Seck and, with the Frenchman up against the ropes and taking too many punches, referee Williams called a halt two minutes and 41 seconds into the third round.