Josh Padley Drops, Outpoints Mark Chamberlain In Upset Win On Riyadh Season Show In London
The UK launch of Riyadh Season opened with a loss dealt to Turki Alalshikh’s favorite fighter.
Mark Chamberlain suffered a knockdown and a point deduction in an upset decision defeat to Josh Padley. The battle of unbeaten Brits saw Padley prevail by scores of 96-92, 96-92 and 95-93 in their junior welterweight bout Saturday at Wembley Stadium in London.
Chamberlain emerged as a Riyadh Season series regular but jumped out to a slow start in his first fight on home soil in ten months. Padley arrived with the intent to shock the world and forced the bigger Chamberlain out of his comfort zone.
Both fighters were cut from frequent headbutts. Padley pushed past his wound to target Chamberlain’s body whenever he had to fight on the inside. Portsmouth’s Chamberlain sought to bully the smaller Yorkshire boxer but his aggression was largely of the ineffective variety.
Things went from bad to worse for Chamberlain when he was floored in round eight. Padley delivered ‘a peach of a punch’ in the form of a left hook to produce the surprise knockdown. The 28-year-old only had four knockouts headed into the fight.
Chamberlain’s fate was already sealed by that point, more so one round later. Referee Victor Loughlin deducted a point after repeatedly warning Chamberlain for an assortment of fouls and infractions. The Ring’s No. 9-rated lightweight was not disillusioned about his chances to win and sought a knockout by that point. To his credit, he outfought Padley down the stretch but the damage was already done on the scorecards.
Padley soared to 15-0 (4 knockouts) in by far the biggest win of his career. Chamberlain fell to 16-1 (12 KOs) with the defeat after stoppage wins in Riyadh this past May 18 and March 8. A five-fight knockout streak was also snapped with the loss and distance fight.
Padley-Chamberlain opened a six-fight DAZN/PPV.com pay-per-view event. Daniel Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) defends his IBF heavyweight title versus Anthony Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) atop the show.
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