Viddal Riley becomes EBU cruiserweight champion with a clear points decision against Mateusz Masternak.
British cruiserweight Viddal Riley is the new European Champion (EBU) after winning a comfortable unanimous points decision over Mateusz Masternak tonight. The fight acted as the co-main event of the event between Derek Chisora and Deontay Wilder at the O2 Arena in London.
The judges scored the fight 118-110, 118-110 and 119-109, unifying Riley’s European belt with his British title and also putting him in position for a final eliminator for the IBF world title, which was recently stripped from Jai Opetaia.
Riley (14-0, 7 knockouts) controlled the action for all 12 rounds and impressed with clearly superior footwork and faster hands. Masternak (50-7, 33 knockouts), the 38-year-old Pole, had great difficulty getting into the fight and appeared hesitant in the ring for long stretches. “That shows I’m world class,” said Riley in the DAZN interview after the fight. “The only people who have beaten Masternak are world class.”
Further down the undercard, Denzel Bentley secured the WBO interim middleweight title with a seventh-round TKO win over Endry Saavedra. Bentley (22-3-1, 18 KOs) turned up the pressure in the seventh, putting Saavedra (17-2-1, 14 KOs) under constant fire with a series of punches to the head, prompting referee Darren Sarginson to stop the fight at 1:38 minutes. Bentley remains unbeaten in his fourth consecutive fight, while Saavedra suffered the first early loss of his career.