Undefeated British, Commonwealth, and European super featherweight champion Ryan Garner will look to hit the world stage this Summer when he faces Italy’s Michael Magnesi for the interim WBC title at Southampton’s St. Mary’s Stadium.
Garner (19-0, 10 KO) notably handed Archie Sharp his first pro defeat in 2024 and stopped Reece Bellotti for a suite of regional hardware last July. Magnesi (26-2, 13 KO) has won three straight since losing an eliminator to Masanori Rikiishi in a 2024 fight that saw the
Italian enter the last round up on all three scorecards before succumbing to punches with less than 30 seconds on the clock.
His only prior defeat came to Anthony Cacace by split decision.
“This has been my dream all along and now it is coming true, Frank [Warren] promised me he would make it happen and he has always delivered for me right from the beginning,” Garner said.
“I believe this will be one of the biggest single sporting events ever to take place in the city and I know that I’ve got the Southampton people behind me. It will just be an amazing occasion but I have a job to do against a tough opponent so I can make sure we can do this again and again.
“I am thrilled that we are sticking to the WBC title and, when I win this one, the champion will have no place to hide.”
I do want to point out how egregious this interim title is, even by WBC standards. O’Shaquie Foster, the full titlist, is reportedly slated to defend it again against no. 2 Raymond Ford next month. It’s not like there’s a unification to wait on; there’s zero reason this shouldn’t be an eliminator.
The DAZN-bound show will also see Lewis Edmondson (11-1, 3 KO), last seen dropping a close decision to Daniel Lapin on the Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois undercard, meet Lyndon Arthur (25-3, 16 KO) in a nice little clash of domestic light heavyweights.
