Johnny Fisher had to dig deep on his debut for promoter Dana White's Zuffa Boxing with a majority decision win over Michael Pirotton on Saturday.
Fisher (15-1, 12 KOs), 27, earned scores of 95-95, 98-92, and 96-95 vs. Pirotton (12-3, 6 KOs), 30, in a gruelling ten-round, non-title heavyweight bout at the Copper Box in east London, England.
Fisher is hoping to become one of the new generation of heavyweight stars as the likes of Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua close in on retirement. But world title contention is still some way off and a fight vs. British heavyweight title Richard Riakporhe is still risky for Fisher, who looked exhausted in the last two rounds as Pirotton won most of the later rounds.
The popular Romford, Essex-based boxer, whose dad John is a social media star, has lost momentum in the last two years with a close points win over David Allen, before getting stopped in the rematch last year.
Fisher stopped Ivan Balaz in December and this was the first time this year we have seen him in the ring after he switched promoters from Matchroom to Zuffa.
Pirotton, from Belgium, had to contend with a cut by his left eye from Round 2 after some accurate shots from Fisher in a confident start.
Fisher, who weighed in at 243 pounds and had trainer Tony Sims in his corner for the first time, unloaded some heavy shots in Round 4 as blood poured from Pirotton's cut eye.
Also in Round 4, the ringside doctor inspected the cut and allowed the fight to continue and, after a good Round 5 from Pirotton, he was wobbled by a left hook to the ear just before the bell.
Fisher steadily, rather than explosively, went about his work and landed a crunching left hook in Round 7 but then lost control of the fight in the later rounds.
Pirotton had more success in Round 8 as Fisher slowed down which allowed his opponent to narrow the scores.
Fisher became ragged and an easier target in the final rounds, but Pirotton could not land any damaging shots.
The best shots came from Fisher in the final, tenth round, especially a big looping right hand.
Fisher finished on heavy legs and missed wildly with his punches, but he had done enough to earn the decision.
Also on the card, Radivoje Kalajdzic sent Craig Richards to the canvas in the last round on his way to a ten-round points win to stay in the hunt for a world light heavyweight title shot.
Kalajdzic (31-3, 22 KOs), 35, hurt Richards (20-5-1, 13 KOs) on a few occasions and dropped him in the final moments with a right hook, to earn scores of 97-93 on all three scorecards.
Victory boosts Kalajdzic's hopes of a world title shot and this was his second win since a points loss to David Morrell for the WBA's secondary world title.
He is ranked No. 3 and 6 with the WBO and WBC respectively.
It was a third defeat for Richards, 36, from south London, since he lost on points to Dmitry Bivol for the WBA world title in 2021.
Kalajdzic, who moved from the former Yugoslavia to Florida with his family as a child, shook Richards in Round 4 with a left hook and the English boxer was left in trouble for most of the final minute of the round.
Kalajdzic caught Richards with a big right in Round 6 but Richards finished strong and landed some good body shots in the tenth round.
Kalajdzic fired back with some hard, straight punches later in Round 10 and in the final seconds he floored a weary Richards with a right hook.