- Radivoje Kalajdzic beat Craig Richards by unanimous decision, all three judges scoring it 97-92, in the Zuffa Boxing 11 chief support bout
- Richards was put down with seconds left in the tenth and final round by a heavy combination, having pressed hard but late in the fight
- Kalajdzic is now rated No. 3 with the WBO and No. 6 with the WBC at light heavyweight, and is pushing for a genuine title opportunity next
Proper Statement Win, No Argument About It
Right then, while everyone was focused on the main event, Radivoje Kalajdzic went and did something a lot more emphatic on the same Copper Box card. Craig Richards came in with the bigger name in this country, but Kalajdzic beat him up over ten rounds and got it confirmed on every card going, 97-92, 97-92, 97-92. That is a wide, wide decision for a fight some had picked as competitive on paper.
Richards tried to make a fight of it late, pressing forward when he realised the cards were slipping away from him, and full credit for not folding. But pressing with seconds on the clock and pressing with a plan are two different things, and Kalajdzic showed exactly why he is the one moving forward in this division when he dropped Richards with a heavy combination in the closing seconds of the tenth round. Brutal way to end a night that was already gone.
Why This Result Actually Matters
Kalajdzic goes to 2-1 across his last three fights and, more importantly for him, he is now sat at No. 3 with the WBO and No. 6 with the WBC at light heavyweight. Those are not vanity rankings, those are the kind of numbers that get a genuine title eliminator put in front of you within twelve months if you keep winning like this. If you know, you know how hard it is to string together performances that actually move the sanctioning bodies, and this was one of them.
What It Means For Richards
For Richards, this is a step backwards after leaving Matchroom for Zuffa in search of exactly these kinds of high-profile nights. He remained competitive, and nobody should write him off after one bad result against a fighter clearly on the rise, but the eye test last night said Kalajdzic was levels sharper for long stretches. Richards needs a proper rebuild fight next, not another name he can't quite match physically.
The Verdict
I had Kalajdzic winning this comfortably before the knockdown even happened, and the final seconds just underlined how one-sided it actually was. Class performance from the Serbian, and on this form he is closer to a world title shot than most people in this country currently realise. Richards deserves credit for standing in there and trying to salvage something, but this was Kalajdzic's night from bell to bell.