The 35-year-old “Hot Rod”, who was stopped by Artur Beterbiev when they fought for the IBF title in 2019, dropped Richards late in the final round and claimed the win via three identical scores of 97-92.

Until then, Richards had managed to stay on his feet despite some brutal pressure throughout the fight. The Englishman had moments of his own and nearly forced a stoppage of his own in the seventh. It was a worthy chief support to the heavyweight main event between Johnny Fisher and Michael Pirotton.

It was “Hot Rod”, rated at No. 3 with the WBO and No. 6 with the WBC, who got the nod to secure his second straight win since his defeat to David Morrell in August 2024.

This was a battle of the jabs early on, with both tall, long boxers attempting to assert their dominance behind a long stick.

Kalajdzic was switching to the body well and had success when he brought his right hand back upstairs. But Richards landed with a big one of his own midway through the third, only to receive almost instantly in return.

Then, halfway through the fourth, Kalajdzic wobbled Richards badly with a left hook which buckled his legs. Richards got on the move, but he could do little to stop the pressure. Kalajdzic looked on the verge of forcing a stoppage but Richards somehow hung tough. Then, having done so, the Englishman landed a big right hand late in the fifth as a reminder of his power.

However, that would only usher in another crisis for Richards in the sixth, which started with another huge right hand from Kalajdzic. Again, the Serbia-born American piled on the pressure in search of a finish but Richards clung on for a second time.

Then, after recovering between rounds, Richards threw caution to the wind himself in the seventh, landing with a straight right and then a series of left hooks to the body as Hot Rod had to hang on. But the visitor regrouped quickly and went back to peppering Richards.

But Kalajdzic seemed to take the eighth off to regain his footing before a big ninth from Richards set up a huge final round. “Spider” started it in the ascendancy and looked like he might be the one to close the show. But, yet again, Kalajdzic stormed back and finally dropped Richards with seconds left of the fight.

After taking a moment on his back, Richards climbed back to his feet in order to answer the count and send the fight to the cards. However, they would not make happy reading for the south Londoner.

Before that, on this Zuffa Boxing promotion broadcast on Sky Sports in the UK and Paramount+ in the U.S., Lee Cutler claimed a hard-fought decision over Louis Greene and then called out IBF world middleweight champion Aaron McKenna.

Most had predicted this battle of the Brits would catch fire given both men usually favor front foot pressure.

But, under strict instructions from his coach Josh Pritchard, the 30-year-old from Bournemouth stayed disciplined to win via scores of 98-92 and 97-93 twice.

“There were so many times when I thought that I had just got him and he’s tired,” Cutler said of Greene. “But I could just hear my coach screaming from ringside ‘stay disciplined!’

“It takes one shot in this game. You saw that early on when he hit me on the chin and I did a little samba dance. He hid that shot very well, I didn’t see it coming.

“But other than that, it was a great performance."

Indeed, Greene had wobbled Cutler badly with a hard overhand right in the third round, but the Bournemouth man stayed on his feet and navigated through the rest of the round.

That was as good as it got for the “Medway Mauler”, who is a close-protection bodyguard by day, but he just could not get close enough to slick Cutler, who boxed his way to victory.

When asked what he wants next, Cutler immediately set his sights on McKenna, his fellow Zuffa boxer, who claimed the IBF belt in his last outing.

Cutler shared an intense rivalry with McKenna’s brother Stevie, who he beat via majority decision when they fought in December 2024. The pair had been linked with a rematch but Cutler claims McKenna snubbed the chance of a rematch.

Cutler added: “I’ll fight Aarton Mckenna for the world title. Eff Steve McKenna because he had the chance to fight me in his back yard and he turned it down.”

In the first televised fight of the card, young welterweight Alex MacMillan (5-0, 4 KOs) produced a scintillating performance to dismiss undefeated Frenchman Guillaume Azagier (2-1) after 32 seconds of the second round, having dropped him twice in the first. The 23-year-old Morecambe puncher, who trains alongside Cutler under Josh Pritchard in Shane McGuigan’s east London gym, is one to watch.

Kayla Allen (1-0,1 KO) def Edina Kiss (17-12, 10 KOs) W TKO 3

Leo Ruiz (18-1, 9 KOs) def Cesar Mateo Tapia (18-0-1, 11 KOs) W PTS 10

Alex MacMillan (5-0, 4 KOs) def Guillaume Azagier (2-1) W TKO 2

Rogelio Romero (7-0, 7 KOs) def Aurel Ignat (11-1, 8 KOs) W TKO 3

Alexis De La Cerda (10-0, 5 KOs) def Cain Lewis (10-1-1, 2 KOs) PTS 8

Fred Pullen (1-0) def Leonardo Faretine (8-10-2, 3 KOs) PTS 4