Udofia crushes Codona to go 13 unbeaten

The Guildford fighter, who came into the bout with seven wins and three defeats from 11 fights was crushed by Udofia.

The fight was billed as a final eliminator for an English title shot, and Udofia took the opportunity with both hands.

There was a great deal of needle the previous day as both fighters exchanged words at the weigh-in at Dunstable Community Church Centre.

Codona had promised to knock out Udofia and from the first bell attempted to exert pressure and outmuscle the Luton fighter.

His success was short lived as Udofia began to establish his jab and pick his opponent off from range.

In the second he started to dominate and land left and right hooks to the body of Cordona who seemed to feel every shot.

An explosive combination from Udofia shook the body of Codona and he took a knee to get some respite in just the second round.

From then on, the fight looked to be finishing early and that was no mean feat considering Codona had never been stopped.

The sound of Udofia’s shots reminded those in attendance just how hard he hits and for the following rounds, his jab was peppering the head of Codona who was barely getting into range.

Body shot after body shot followed, the Luton middleweight showing no mercy and it began to look like Codona’s team should throw in the towel.

There was still time for another knockdown as Udofia landed a big right and then spun Codona who once again took a knee.

In the seventh round, after yet another unanswered barrage of Udofia combinations, the referee mercifully stepped in to called a half.

The win means that Udofia is the mandatory challenger for the English title, currently held by Reece Cartwright who defends it in Bolton on May 11.

Speaking about the fight, Udofia said: “We hadn’t seen a lot of footage of him, the stuff we had seen was about six years old and what we saw was he was flat footed with a lazy jab.

“After the first round, he looked at me as if ‘I’m still here’ and I said to him ‘you’re in with the big fish now.’

“I knew when I landed that big right he’d go down and he did. He was clever as he spat the gumshield out to buy more time. He tightened up after that, so my coach said to me ‘keep boxing him, and you will catch him again.’

“I thought, he’s going to make a mistake and I need to stay patient. I threw a five-punch combo and saw him wince, then I started switching between southpaw and orthodox.

“The referee could have let it go but that’s just me wanting more, he really only had a punchers chance.

“I’ve never felt more in control in a fight.”

Udofia, who had campaign group #saveourtown printed on his shorts, thanked the support he received, adding: “It was a great feeling.

“It’s humbling having the fans cheering and having a growing fanbase.

“I’m just taking each fight as it comes, right now I’m in the top 10 in Britain. and I’m working on getting that big title fight in 2019.”