Johnny Fisher dedicates first title to late grandfather

An emotional Johnny Fisher dedicated his brilliant Southern Area heavyweight title success to his late grandfather.

The 24-year-old could have ended his night after 10 seconds when he sent Harry Armstrong down with a blistering combination of head shots at the O2 Arena.

But in the seventh round, Fisher’s heavy shots left Armstrong, 30, clinging desperately on the ropes for an eight count and he continued to pile on the artillery which eventually prompted the North Londoner’s corner to throw the towel in after 1.19.

Armstrong fell to his second defeat after eight outings, while Fisher advanced to 10 straight victories while picking up his first professional mantle.

And he praised his rival for his courage, telling DAZN’s Mike Costello: “First of all I’ve got to give credit to my opponent Harry Armstrong.

“What a tough man. He’s never been stopped before. In the first round he showed a heart of a warrior so give a big props to Harry Armstrong.

“I knew I had to get 10 rounds under my belt, I’ve got to be willing to go that far so I placed myself to listen to Mark and Jimmy Tibbs (his training team). I knew I had to keep some in the tank and it’s a good job I did because in the seventh round I’ve found the opening.

“I think Barry or Eddie Hearn said to me after that you’ve been in a proper scrap there, so that’s only going to stand me in good stead for the future.

“I won this belt for my grandad and I’m taking it to his grave tomorrow. He’s going to be the proudest man ever to have lived.”

Matchroom Boxing chief Eddie Hearn has now touted Fisher as a genuine British heavyweight prospect.

“What we wanted to find out tonight is this man goes from a popular ticket seller, one of the biggest in the country, to a real heavyweight prospect and that’s what you’re seeing,” he said.

“We need to stop talking about just the following of Johnny Fisher, his great old man, the Romford Bull Army. We need to start talking about this man is a great British heavyweight prospect.

“This is a fantastic belt (Southern area). It’s a traditional route; Southern area title, English title, British title, he’s going to fill this place up for the British title.

“He’s fast, he can punch, he’s tough, he’s got a great chin and his boxing IQ is improving all the time so I think tonight was a real marker in the sand to say yes everyone loves Johnny Fisher, everyone love’s a Chinese, everyone loves the ‘Bosh’ but the reality is this man can really fight and this is a true British heavyweight prospect.”

A host of up-and-coming local prospects from Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions stable are in action at Bethnal Green’s York Hall on Friday, including featherweight Umar Khan (Ilford), super-welterweight Khalid Ali (Brick Lane), welterweight Sonny Liston Ali (Romford) and super-welterweight Joel Kodua (Dagenham).

All willl appear on the undercard of Dennis McCann’s vacant WBO Intercontinental super-bantamweight title clash against Ionut Baluta, with tickets available at ticketmaster.co.uk and the action also live on TNT Sports (formally BT Sport) from 7pm.