Emanuel Odiase, Anthony Joshua’s 6’8″ heavyweight prospect, remains undefeated.
The former German amateur standout, who is handled by AJ’s 258 Management, improved to 4-0 on Saturday night with a fourth-round knockout victory against Kevin Masirika on the Felix Cash vs Tyler Denny undercard.
Emanuel Odiase is one to watch in the heavyweight division.
Masirika (2-2) was an English bare-knuckle boxing champion with the now-defunct Bare-Fist Boxing Association (BFBA) before moving on to professional boxing in 2023.
Big Kev dislocated his shoulder in his last fight against Blackpool’s Luis Wright in March, but he bravely accepted the Odiase match on short notice.
His bravado was on full display from the start, as he flew out of the gate, hoping to land his looping left hand from the southpaw stance before settling on the backfoot.
The towering Odiase began to establish his jab in the first stanza, but his backhand failed to land much.
That all changed in the second frame, when Masirka’s legs crumpled after a clubbing right early in the round.
Odiase responded with a vicious left hook that looked to temporarily shock his Mancunian opponent.
Masirika, sensing the battle was sliding away from him, came out in the third round attempting to establish himself.
The former bare-knuckle boxer did a fantastic job of suppressing Odiase’s efforts, but he couldn’t link together the shots required to win the round.
Heading into the fourth and final stanza, there was a spring in Odiase’s step as he effortlessly evaded Masirika’s shots and landed a huge left hook that sent his adversary tumbling to the canvas, where he was counted out.
Speaking in the immediate aftermath of his victory, Odiase said: “I’m happy with the performance because you hear all these people say ‘Has he got enough power for a heavyweight blah blah blah’.
“Well, I showed you tonight that I’ve got the power…
“A great way to win it. Health comes first so I pray he comes out healthy. But yeah I was hitting him with some good shots and one round before he was shaking his head like ‘That’s nothing’.
“So I was thinking to myself ‘I’m going to show you son’ and that’s what I did, it’s a great knockout.
“But obviously, like I said, I pray that he comes out well.”
Odiase is signed to Anthony Joshua’s 258 Management.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn then timed in: “He’s a talented fighter, he’s come in a bit on the blindside without the amateur pedigree in the UK and the profile in the UK.
“But AJ and the team saw the quality in him through the sparring and they know how good he is.
“And we are seeing how good he is, punch selection very good and that was a brutal knockout.
“The opponent was game, he didn’t stop coming, he was out as soon as the shot landed.”