The main fight of the evening at the Copper Boxing arena in London of welterweights Conor Benn (18-0, 12 KOs) and Samuel Vargas (31-7-2, 14 KOs) was stopped in the first round when Vargas, having missed several heavy blows to the head, rested his back on the ropes and went into a deaf defense. At the time of the stoppage the Canadian Colombian continued to remain on his feet and did not look much hurt, although Benn spectacularly threw his opponent's head back with several accurate uppercuts. Perhaps this forced the referee in the ring Michael Alexander to stop the bout at 1:20.
Vargas expressed slight dissatisfaction with the stop. Benn defended his WBA continental title. After the battle, Benn announced that he would like to face Amir Khan in his next battle.
Also that evening, WBO middleweight champion Savannah Marshall (10-0, 8 KOs) knocked out Maria Lindberg (19-7-2, 10 KOs) in the third round. Marshall lost to Lindbergh the second round and then achieved stoppage in the third round at 1:11.
Britain's Shannon Courtney (7-1, 3 KOs) defeated previously undefeated Ebanie Bridges (5-1, 2 KOs) from Australia via unanimous decision in the battle for the vacant WBA bantamweight title. In the course of the fight, Bridges received a hematoma on her left eye, which by the end of the fight was completely closed. After 10 rounds, the judges gave preference to the home boxer 97-94, 98-92, 98-92, although the fight was much more competitive.
