The main event of the Ring IV: Night of Champions was an execution; a pleasure for the sadists and a painful experience for the squeamish. David Benavidez stopped Anthony Yarde in seven rounds but first left him a bloody mess, retaining his WBC light heavyweight belt and staying undefeated. The outcome was never in doubt, even when the former was stripped of two point for punching the latter on the way down shortly before the end.

Benavidez had his opponent backpedaling from round one and softened him up with jabs to the midsection. Yarde’s game plan of moving and striking in between shots caused the former some frustration, but nothing more.

The champion only had abuse in mind: he delivered 25 strikes in round three, and 20 were power punches. He capped off the fourth in the corner with endless one-handed strikes while his other glove was held. Yarde subsequently had his best moment of the fight at the start of the sixth, catching Benavidez with a lead right that made him retreat to the ropes. The challenger swung wildly but failed to do any damage, and it cost him. The response was leaving the Englishman leaking from the nose and mouth from a tsunami of punches.

Benavidez then went for the kill on the ropes after walking through him. Yarde was still dazed from the knockdown when Benavidez unleashed both hands, and he eventually landed a bombing left hook that compelled referee Hector Afu to jump in between them.

He said in his post-bout interview that he made it look easier than Artur Beterbiev and Sergey Kovalev did when fighting Yarde. They knocked him out in rounds eight and 11. Benavidez also said he’s fighting Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez at cruiserweight, for his WBA and WBO titles, in May.

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Devin Haney father Bill said in locker room before the fight that Brian Norman Jr. would be handicapped. Haney then outboxed the harder-hitting man for the WBO welterweight belt, becoming a champion in a third division. His performance debunked claims that he is a shot fighter over what happened to him in an April 2024 clash with a dirty, overweight rival: Ryan Garcia.

His unanimous decision win over Jose Ramirez a year later, negatively affected his reputation because he was gun-shy, taking no risks. He still looked that way in round one against Norman, but everything changed in the second when he connected on a checking left hook.

Haney soon landed another hook and piercing right that dropped Norman in the same round, and continued lashing. The latter looked stunned as he bled from his nose in the corner while his team instructed and cleaned him up.

Haney dominated the first half of the fight, but slowed his work rate, getting too comfortable with his early progress, and giving Norman an opening in the second half. Yet Norman failed to capitalize on that, unable to land shots of real consequence and ate counter punches.

The knockdown from round two still had him emotionally unregulated as he bumped Haney at the end of round 11, on the way to the corner.

Haney subsequently tied him up and was more active in the 12th to seal the deal.

In his post-fight interview, Haney said, ““In 2024, I lost everything. In 2025, I came to get it back. And in 2026, I’m coming for everything…”

On top of that, Conor Benn is looking to come back to the welterweight division after beating Chris Eubank Jr. in their rematch on Nov.15 at 160 pounds. He said that night that he wanted to square off with the big names of the division, which included Haney. He and his promoter Eddie Hearn, who is the chairman of Matchroom Sport and once was Haney’s partner, were interviewed shortly after away from the ring. Benn said that style would put people to sleep from being so boring, and Hearn said nobody wants to see that.

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It was supposed to be an action fight, but Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez outclassed Fernando Martinez, knocking him out with a laser-left-handed strike in round 11. the bout so one-sided that Rodriguez’s trainer, Roberto Garcia, cared little for seeing the results on the cards and wanted it over after the 10th.

Martinez’s reluctance to jab and insistence on throwing missiles each time with either hand were easily decipherable.

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Lightweight southpaw standout Abdullah Mason edged out a slugfest with Englishman Sam Noakes, becoming the youngest champion in men’s boxing (21), handing him his first defeat in the most entertaining fight on the card. Mason wanted to keep it at a distance to use his speed and length, but Noakes made it nasty by forcing it at close range with his unrelenting courage. Both of them abandoned defense, but the American was the superior brawler.

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Despite Vito “White Magic” Mielnicki Jr. hurting his right hand in the fifth, he wiped out Samuel  “Black Panther” Nmomah four rounds later in their middleweight clash of 10 rounds for the WBO global middleweight championship. His trainer, Ronnie Shields, ordered him to separate himself after the seventh, and Mielnicki didn’t need to be told again. He brutalized Nmomah and ended it with two hard right hands in short order, including one that dropped him flat on his back. The referee wasn’t satisfied with Nmomah’s condition after the count and called it off.

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The undercard nearly all went according to plan for the A-side prospects: 

• Sixteen-year-old Juan El Guerito De Tepito shined in his pro bantamweight debut against Barker Ssewanyana, who is nearly twice his age (31), winning all four rounds. He landed body shots that resembled swinging pendulums with both hands. He didn’t have the power to finish his opponent, yet he boxed well.

• Super featherweight Sultan Almohammed, age 17, engaged in the pocket with Umesh Chavan, outclassing him with strikes to the head and body and quickly finished the latter with a left hook between the ribs. It was such a powerful shot and the precise spot that Chavan turned around, wanting a count, but the ref did not oblige and spared him a beating. Almohammed, trained by Abel Sanchez, improved to 2-0.

• Julio “Diamanté” Porras got bailed out by the judges, scoring a draw when he was schooled because he was slow and telegraphed punches, failing to use his size as a weapon against the much smaller Pius Mpenda in their six-round super middleweight bout. Porras didn’t jab enough to keep his man away, and his defense was suspect in round three, eating four overhand rights to the face. Mpenda figured out the right distance and kept stunning the bigger man with thunderous right hands.

• Mohammed Alakel punished Jiaming Li with lightning-fast jabs, hooks and overhand rights. He buckled Linin in round one when evading a left hook and countering with a strong right. His size and reach were an unbreakable code that left Li missing and suffering huge shots. He subsequently dropped Li at the end of round five with a counter right and won on the cards.

Conor Benn dismantled Chris Eubank Jr. in their rematch from April, splitting the bouts 1-1, and earning the respect of his foe, who called him a “drug cheat.” The latter knew from round one of their middleweight show down that he was mistaken about how the night would unfold, and now questions remain about his future… while Benn wishes to return to the welterweight division.

Benn didn’t rush in with the blind fury that powered him through the fist fight, but instead controlled aggression. He raised his jab frequency and shots to the midsection, which softened defenses for clean, vicious right-handed strikes to the head that sent the crowd in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium into a frenzy. 

Eubank was a man way too light for his body after the weight cut and rehydration limit of 170 pounds. It would have been easy to mistake him for a prisoner in a gulag before the weigh-in. He appeared to take every blow twice as hard and had no pop on everything he gave back.  

Perhaps Eubank’s finest moment was in round three, tagging Benn’s low-ducking movement at close range, but his action was unsustainable. He kept eating jabs, including nine in round eight while connecting on zero, and he was pieced with 49% of Benn’s power shots, per Compubox.. 

Eubank desperately needed a knockout in round 12, and instead went down from a two-piece and again from a chopping right hand, never putting the outcome in doubt. The judges scored it unanimously for Benn: 119-107, 116-110 and 118-108. In his post-fight interview, Benn said, “This is the end of the Benn- Eubank saga. Done and finished. It’s over.”

Benn declared the family rivalry over, and said he wants a piece of Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight title, or Ryan Garcia, “Rolly” Romero, Devin Haney, and “all of them yanks.”.   

Eubank didn’t commit to a rematch. If this was the last go-around, it leaves the Eubank-Benn rivalry at two victories for the Eubanks (1990 & 2025), one draw (1993), and one win for the Benns (2025).

Before leaving his presser, Eubank said he’d take time off and didn’t want to discuss his future in boxing. As much as he was affected by the weight cut, the first confrontation between him and Benn was a savage brawl that wasted a lot of himself. It will help him to go up to super middleweight (168 pounds), but he is in the last chapter of his career. 

“Conor Benn put on a hell of a fight,” Eubank said. “He had a great performance. He did everything that was asked of him, and I congratulate him for his performance tonight.”