Yigit’s badly damaged eye caused the fight to be stopped after the seventh.
Ivan Baranchyk (19-0, 12 KOs) is your new IBF junior welterweight titleholder. Anthony Yigit (21-1-1, 7 KOs) paid with a defeat for a poor choice of style in the co-main event and vacant title fight. The Swede elected to largely stand and trade with Baranchyk and his loaded up shots rather than use the lateral movement he has employed successfully in previous fights.
He still fought well for the first four rounds though. Yigit landed as well as he was taking in the fight. I’m not sure he actually won any of the rounds based on the power differential alone, but he was in there and putting in quality work of his own. The rounds were very exciting too. Unfortunately for the former Olympian, however, the damage was done basically after the first round. He had a notably bad mouse over his eye by the end of the first three minutes. Clearly it was far too early in the contest for that sort of damage and it eventually proved to be his undoing.
Though it never stopped being competitively entirely, the fight was more one sided after the fifth. The Belorussian eventually titleholder was just wearing down Anthony Yigit with his physical strength. Yigit’s eye began to disintegrate further as well round by round. Baranchyk isn’t the monster puncher that was promised early in his ShoBox days, but he is a fiercely strong junior welterweight. He was clearly the more powerful fighter in there. He also wasn’t afraid to be a little dirty in the WBSS quarterfinal either. Ivan eventually lost a point for repeatedly pulling his opponent’s head down, but he also hit on the break and low at times too.
After the seventh round the fight was waved off due to the almost entirely closed and fairly grotesque eye of Anthony Yigit. It was a bad one and I doubt he could see out of it. The Swedish fighter passionately argued for the fight to continue, but I think it was the right call. He was losing most every round even if he fought with great heart and the eye was truly awful.
With the win not only does Ivan Baranchyk get the IBF belt, but he advances in the tournament to meet the winner of next week’s fight between Josh Taylor and Ryan Martin in the semifinals.
