Brave Kash Ali suffers late KO at hands of Joe Joyce

The Rotherham fighter showed great bravery against the Olympic medallist, landing some good shots, but was on the defensive throughout before The Juggernaut finally floored him 2mins and 53secs into the final round.

Ali gave away more than three stone in weight to Joyce, who tipped the scales at a career highest 20st 6lbs. And although it was an underwhelming performance from the favourite after his successive defeats to Zhelei Zhang, his non-stop pressure and much higher punch output won him every round.

Ali exposed familiar weaknesses in the Joyce defence, finding the spot with several overhand rights, but by Round 8 he was tiring badly and did well to survive a sustained assault.

His trainer, Richard Towers, read the riot act at the end of the round, imploring his man to “stop messing around” and do more.

Ali hung in and was within seconds of taking it to the judges’ scorecards – an outcome his efforts deserved – until Joyce eventually ended it.