Fabio Wardley produced a first-round knockout in his rematch against Frazer Clarke to defend his British heavyweight title in spectacular fashion. The pair had gone the full 12 rounds in their initial fight at London’s O2 Arena in March that had ended in a draw.

It proved a far shorter affair – around two and a half minutes – in Riyadh on the Artur Beterbiev v Dmitry Bivol undercard. Wardley caught and hurt Clarke with a looping overhand right hand, then sent him to the canvas with a violent follow-up barrage. A dazed Clarke gamely tried to get to his feet but the referee waved the contest off.

Wardley, victorious for the 18th time in 19 bouts, said in the ring afterwards: “I always know once I hurt someone, I can get rid of them. I went into the last fight with a couple of issues. We got them fixed up, we got the gameplan right, we put it together, executed on the night.

“I took enough assessment from the first fight to know I have success in that war mode, we just needed to be a little bit sweeter, put it together a little bit nicer, set things up a little bit better, disguise them a little bit better. But I can’t help it: war by name, war by nature. Once I have my enemies hurt, there’s no help for them unless that bell comes.”

Chris Eubank Jr was confronted by Conor Benn following his middleweight victory over Poland’s Kamil Szeremeta via a seventh-round knockout. Eubank Jr had already put his opponent down in round one and six when the fight was stopped, after which Benn jumped in the ring.

With the Brazil forward Neymar, who plays for Saudi side Al Hilal, in the ring watching on, the two British fighters had a heated exchange, at times putting their heads together, with both saying “let’s get it done”.

Benn has not fought in the UK since having been suspended for failing two voluntary drug tests while preparing for his clash with Eubank Jr in October 2022, which forced the cancellation of the bout.

When asked when he would be allowed to fight in his home country again, Benn – who other than beating Rodolfo Orozco and Peter Dobson in the United States has been inactive – told Dazn: “This will all be cleared up over the next couple, few weeks. We’ll hopefully have an announcement next month, God willing.”

Raven Chapman was beaten by Australia’s WBC featherweight champion Skye Nicolson in the first women’s world title fight to take place in Saudi Arabia. The historic contest saw Australia’s Nicolson triumph via unanimous decision.

Nicolson’s compatriot Jai Opetaia defended his IBF cruiserweight title against Britain’s Jack Massey, with the fight stopped in round six.

A light-heavyweight fight between Britons Ben Whittaker and Liam Cameron ended in a draw after both crashed out of the ring. Olympic silver medallist Whittaker left the arena in a wheelchair and was taken to hospital for scans to his injured leg after he and Cameron grappled onto the ropes and tumbled over the top.

Cameron was sprawled on Whittaker as they fell on the outer canvas towards the end of the fifth round, with the latter unable to get up. The bout was abandoned due to accidental injury and declared a technical split draw, with Whittaker 58-57 ahead on one scorecard and Cameron ahead by the same score on another with the third tied 58-58.

The main event saw Beterbiev unify the light-heavyweight world titles via majority decision. Both fighters were previously undefeated before the fight in Riyadh, with the 33-year-old Bivol holding the WBA belt and Beterbiev, 39, the reigning WBC, WBO and IBF champion.

The headline clash at the Kingdom Arena, postponed from June after Montreal-based Beterbiev suffered a knee injury, put the four recognised major belts in the hands of one man for the first time. The last undisputed light-heavyweight champion was American Roy Jones Jr. who beat Reggie Johnson to unify the WBA, WBC and IBF belts in 1999.