Ted Cheeseman vs Sergio Garcia result: Classy Spaniard wins on points to defend European title

Garcia remains unbeaten in 29 fights after the clear unanimous point decision win, with the judges scoring the contest 119-109, 119-109 and 115-114

Luke Brown
O2 Arena
Sunday 03 February 2019 00:02 GMT
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Ted Cheeseman fell to his first professional defeat
Ted Cheeseman fell to his first professional defeat

The moment he climbed out of the ring, Ted Cheeseman’s seemingly abounding reserve of courage finally ran dry. As he walked through the thinning crowd in the direction of his dressing room his bottom lip wobbled microscopically and the tears appeared to flow, although they were difficult to detect between the blood smears and bruising.

In his first headline bout, the 23-year-old suffered the first defeat of his professional career, failing to claim the European super-welterweight title from Spain’s Sergio Garcia. Sheer bravery was not enough, with Garcia sealing an emphatic points victory with scores of 119-109, 119-109 and a borderline criminal 115-114.

Garcia was sensational, impressing with his relentless jab and agile footwork and landing several clean shots, repeatedly punishing Cheeseman's weak defence. The win extends his flawless professional record to 29-0, while raising his profile immeasurably. This was a classy performance and he will reap the rewards in the months and years to come.

Cheeseman meanwhile drops to 15-1 and cut an extremely forlorn figure at the final bell and wisely decided to eschew his media obligations at the end of the fight to instead receive medical attention.

“I've never seen someone try so hard until the final bell. He gave it everything,” his promoter, Eddie Hearn, said in his absence, to cheers from the crowd. “He deserves so much respect and credit, he is just very unfortunate in that he came up against a brilliant Sergio Garcia. But he is still 23-years-old and he has the heart of a lion.”

On the undercard, Craig Richards knocked down Jake Ball three times before Steve Gray dived in to end the contest in the third round. The win sees Richards become the new WBA continental light-heavyweight champion.

Felix Cash won the Commonwealth middleweight title by knocking out Nigeria's Rasheed Abolaji in the first round, while there was a morale-boosting knockout victory for Lawrence Okolie, who defended his WBA continental cruiserweight belt against Hungarian journeyman Tamas Lodi.

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