Bradley Rea Stops Ezra Taylor In Two To Retain WBA Title

Bradley Rea retained his WBA Intercontinental light heavyweight title at Manchester’s AO Arena on Saturday night, stopping Ezra Taylor 58 seconds into the second round. A left hook put Taylor down heavily. He beat the count, but his legs were still unsteady when Rea closed in again. Referee Michael Alexander waved it over as Taylor fell for the second time. They had been booked for ten rounds. Rea needed less than four minutes.

Rea, the 28-year-old from Stretford, weighed 173.8 pounds for his first defence. Taylor, 32, from Nottingham, came in at 174.7. Their contest was on Frank Warren’s Queensberry bill, shown on DAZN, with Joshua Buatsi and Willy Hutchinson due to fight for the vacant WBC title later in the evening. Rea came out to the Stone Roses. The Manchester crowd had scarcely settled into the second round when its man had finished the job.

Rea opened as a southpaw. Taylor looked the smoother of the two for stretches of the first, but Rea landed the more jolting punches. A cautious start gave way to a sharp exchange in the centre of the ring, which Rea got the better of. His jab was doing useful work even when the heavier punches were fairly evenly shared. CompuBox counted six jabs home for Rea to four for Taylor, and five power punches to four.

Rea took the initiative in the second. Taylor stood his ground when the punches started coming and was throwing back when Rea ended the exchange with the left hook. Taylor got himself upright, an effort in itself, and Alexander allowed him to continue. Rea was straight back at him with both hands. Taylor staggered under the next combination and was falling again as Alexander intervened. BoxRec records both falls in the second, with the official result a technical knockout.

The change in Rea’s work is there in the figures. In the first, he landed 11 of 47 punches to Taylor’s eight of 39. In the brief second, he got through with six of 14 power shots, one more than he had landed in the whole opening round. The final count was 19 of 72 for Rea and 12 of 58 for Taylor. Rea landed eight jabs and 11 power punches, against six of each for Taylor. Taylor landed four punches to the body to Rea’s one. Rea settled the fight upstairs.

Rea had produced a similar finish in Manchester in May, putting Liam Cameron down twice in the fourth to win the vacant regional belt. Both stoppages have followed his loss to Lyndon Arthur, who got up from a knockdown to take Rea’s European title by majority decision last November. Rea had won that championship on points against Shakan Pitters after moving up from middleweight, where Tyler Denny handed him his first defeat. He said afterwards that he felt he had grown into the weight. “I know I don’t look it, but I can punch.”

Taylor had stopped Steed Woodall in the ninth to win the WBA Continental Gold belt last year. His first professional defeat came in March, when Hutchinson outboxed him over ten rounds. He returned to Los Angeles to work with Malik Scott and spoke before Saturday about imposing himself against better opposition. Rea had asked for a return with Arthur on this bill and took the Taylor fight when that fell through. He expected a dangerous opponent coming off his first defeat. Taylor was willing to trade when Rea stood in front of him, but it was an exchange that suited Rea the better.

Rea started the night with 22 wins, 11 inside the distance, and two defeats. He now has 23 wins and 12 stoppages. Taylor came in with 13 wins and one defeat and leaves with a second loss. Nine of his wins have come inside the distance. Rea wants to headline in Manchester and named Ben Whittaker and the winner of the main event as the men he wants to face.

The bit I liked about Brad Rea was how quickly he changed the pace. Taylor looked the smoother boxer for spells in the first, but Rea’s jab from southpaw was getting through, and he landed the heavier shots when they stood and traded. I’d take more notice of that exchange in the middle of the ring than of who looked tidier moving around it. Rea knew he could hurt him once they were both in range.

Against Hutchinson, Taylor had trouble getting close enough to do his work. Here he had a man in front of him and was too willing to stay there. When they both let their hands go in the second, Rea got the left hook home while Taylor was still there to be hit. I’d have stopped it when Taylor got up. He’d beaten the count, but his legs were telling you what would happen if he had to move or take another shot. Rea saw it and went straight back in with both hands.

I saw the same decisiveness against Liam Cameron. Once Rea has a man hurt, he closes the gap and puts his punches together before his opponent can tie him up or get his feet back. Plenty of fighters can land the big shot. The part I rate is how little time Rea gives you to recover from it.