Lightweight contender Josh Padley (16-1, 5 costs) on Saturday night jumped back a fifth round technical knockout of Marko Cvetanovic (13-1, 6 COs) in the Park Community Arena in Sheffield, England.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom)
The locomotive
In his first battle under his new matchroom contract, former Electrician Padley dropped the gaited, light Cvetanovic twice in the fifth round to get the downtime. Referee Steve Gray stopped the competition after the second knockout of the round. The official time of the downtime was at 1:13 of round five.
Although Cvetanovic, 29, beat the score, Gray chose to stop the fight. The Serbian just beat in every round and showed no power, and he has nothing to offer. He was apparently well chosen by the match room and considered Padley harmless.
In the first knockout, Padley came forward and uninterrupted left-right combinations ended up in a piston-like way. He looked like an old locomotive with the way he threw his combinations while uploading the retreating Cvetanovic. When Josh trapped him against the ropes, he hammered himself on the canvas with repeated shots.
Cvetanovic got up a lot of heart and chose to keep fighting, because he had just eaten 15 head shots in that order. Granted, Padley can’t break eggs, but with the way he knocks on him, he has taken enough. When the action resumed, Padley was all over him and attacked recklessly.
Cvetanovic caught Padley with a large right hand thrown with everything he had, but he took the shot well. Padley continued to drop off with the final barrage before sending him off after being connected to the head with three hard right hands. When Cvetanovic got up, referee Steve Gray chooses to stop the fight.
The bounce back
Padley came to Riyadh on February 22 on a ninth round of knockout loss to WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson. Promoter Eddie Hearn, who was the one who chose Padley over the much more dangerous Cuban Southpaw Jadier Herrera for Shakur to fight, likes what he saw so that he signed him to a contract. Most fans were not impressed with Padley.
They were more disgusted by Shakur, who injured his brittle hands and showed little power in the fight against a man who would have lasted more than one or two rounds against lightweight champion Gervonta Davis or Keyshawn Davis.
Last updated on 04/19/2025
 bounced back from his recent loss, scoring a fifth-round technical knockout of Marko Cvetanovic (13-1, 6 KOs)){kind=link}