Hamzah Sheeraz keeps knockout streak alive against Ezequiel Gurria
WBO European super welterweight champion Hamzah Sheeraz (13-0, 9 KO’s) continued to shine in his latest showing. The British boxer achieved his goal by knocking out Ezequiel Gurria (15-2, 3 KO’s) in the fifth round of their dustup. With the stoppage, Sheeraz has now extended his consecutive knockout streak to seven in a row. The prizefight also stood as the third defense of his WBO European 154-pound title. Sheeraz first secured the then vacant title with November 30, 2019 sixth round stoppage of Ryan Kelly.
As for the Spaniard Gurria, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. The loss to Sheeraz is the second of his career and snaps a two-fight win streak that he was riding. Prior to that, Gurria suffered his first professional loss to the undefeated Davis Soria on February 29, 2020. Both of Gurria’s losses have come by way of stoppage.
BODY ATTACK
Right from the start, Sheeraz took control of the fight. The UK boxer found great success setting up his shots off the jab and initiating the action. Despite his significant height and reach advantage, Sheeraz did not fight at range. Instead he chose to compete fairly close to Gurria. Over the course of the second and third rounds, Sheeraz stepped up his output and greatly varied his shot selection. He had especially potent success with his crisp uppercuts.
The accumulation of damage continued to snowball until Sheeraz caught and hurt Gurria with a three piece combination in the fifth. While caught against the ropes, Sheeraz landed a left and right hook to the body followed by a left uppercut to the jaw bone. Yet, it was the body shots that impaired the Spaniard the most and caused him to go down. To his credit, Gurria beat the count. Once on his feet however, Gurria did little outside of balling up and eating shots until the bout was stopped mere moments after the initial knock down.
By: Bakari Simpson
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