- Johnny Fisher beat Michael Pirotton by majority decision at the Copper Box Arena — scores of 95-95, 96-94 and 98-92 — in his Zuffa Boxing debut
- Pirotton was cut over the left eye in round four and again later, and had Fisher's engine dipping badly through rounds five to seven
- Gym-mate Craig Richards lost the chief support bout, meaning it was a mixed night overall for the Bull Army camp at the Copper Box
A Win Is A Win, But Let's Not Pretend That Was Comfortable
Right then. Johnny Fisher got the result he needed at the Copper Box Arena last night, a majority decision over Michael Pirotton in his first outing since signing with Dana White's Zuffa Boxing, and make no mistake, the hand went up for the right man. But I am not going to sit here and tell you it was pretty. One judge had it 95-95, dead level, and the other two scorecards of 96-94 and 98-92 tell their own story about how split the room was on a fight Fisher was supposed to be winning comfortably by the midway point.
Fisher started the way you want a proper heavyweight to start, forward, jabbing behind it, working the body, and Pirotton was paying for it early with a cut over the left eye that had the doctor across in round four to take a look. That is the version of Fisher that gets him into world level conversations. The problem is that version did not last the full thirty minutes.
Where It Went Wrong: Rounds Five To Seven
Somewhere around the halfway mark Fisher's tank started to run down, and Pirotton, to his credit, felt it before the judges did. The Belgian started landing his right hand over the top of Fisher's jab, picked up a second cut of his own around the same eye from the exchanges, and turned what should have been a routine points win into a fight Fisher had to survive the final round of with windmilling shots just to make sure. If you know boxing, you know that is exactly the kind of night that gets flagged up the next time a bigger name is offered across the ring.
Craig Richards' Night Made It Worse
It did not help the mood in the Bull Army corner that gym-mate Craig Richards lost the chief support bout on the same card, dropped in the final seconds against Radivoje Kalajdzic in a result I have covered separately. Two fighters from the same camp, two nights that ended with question marks rather than statements. That is not the kind of promotional debut Zuffa will have been hoping to build a highlight reel around.
The Verdict
Fisher is 3-1 at the Copper Box now in terms of how these nights have gone for him personally, and he leaves with the win and the record intact, but I am not pretending this settles anything. Proper heavyweights find a way to shut the show down when their legs go, and Fisher did not have that gear last night. He needed the derby judge more than a fighter with genuine top-ten ambitions should. Class is still in there somewhere, I have seen it before, but on this evidence Fisher is levels below where Zuffa will want him before they put him in with anyone who actually matters. More on what should come next below.