Ryan Garner went to war Saturday night. Twelve rounds in a Southampton phone booth with Italy’s Michael Magnesi, and when the dust settled, Garner’s hand was raised — 20-0, interim WBC super featherweight champion, and now firmly in the conversation at 130 pounds.
The judges saw it 116-112, 118-110, and 119-109. Those wide cards don’t tell the real story. Magnesi came to fight. He pressed the action, stayed in Garner’s chest, and made every exchange a grind. But Garner separated himself when he had room to breathe, landing the cleaner, harder shots. Bad Left Hook’s Scott Christ called it perfectly — a phone booth war where both men tested the referee’s patience.
Garner, the 28-year-old from Southampton fighting in front of his hometown crowd at St Mary’s Stadium, showed something important: he can win ugly. The knockouts will come — he has 10 in 20 wins — but beating a durable veteran like Magnesi (26-3) over 12 hard rounds is a different kind of statement. You learn more about a fighter in fights like this than in highlight-reel stoppages.
The Bigger Story: Itauma vs Hrgovic Is Official
While Garner was grinding through Magnesi in Southampton, the heavyweight division got the fight announcement it needed. Moses Itauma (14-0, 12 KOs) will face Filip Hrgovic (20-1, 15 KOs) on August 29 at The O2 Arena in London, live on DAZN.
This is not prospect versus gatekeeper. This is two legitimate top-10 heavyweights putting their futures on the line. Itauma, just 21 years old and already WBO’s number one contender, has been calling for a real test. He got one.
Hrgovic is 34, stands 6-foot-6, and carries the kind of experience you can’t simulate in sparring. His only loss? A TKO to Daniel Dubois in 2024 — stopped on cuts, not beaten down. He’s since rebuilt with wins over Joe Joyce, David Adeleye, and Dave Allen. The Croatian isn’t coming to London to be a stepping stone. He told Sky Sports plainly: “Moses never reached the promised land. I want to fight with anyone in the division.”
The stakes are enormous. If Itauma wins, he silences every critic who says he hasn’t been tested past five rounds. He vaults from blue-chip prospect to mandatory challenger overnight. If Hrgovic wins, the Itauma hype train derails and the 34-year-old Croatian is right back where he was before the Dubois cuts — one fight away from a title shot.
This is exactly the kind of matchup boxing needs more of. Two fighters at different career stages, both with everything to lose, neither looking for an easy night.
Southampton’s Undercard Delivered
The Garner-Magnesi main event wasn’t the only bright spot in Southampton. Bradley Goldsmith (16-1) outpointed Brad Pauls (21-3-1) over 10 rounds at middleweight, scoring a knockdown in the sixth to secure scores of 99-90, 99-90, and 97-92. Lewis Edmondson (12-1) took a close but clear decision over Lyndon Arthur (25-4) at light heavyweight — 96-94, 96-95, 97-93 — in a fight that could easily have gone either way. And heavyweight prospect Adam Olaniyan improved to 2-0 with a second-round TKO of Viktar Chvarkou.
It was a solid Queensberry Promotions card. No massive names, but real fights with real stakes. That’s what keeps the sport breathing between the blockbuster events.
What It Means for the Rest of 2026
Boxing is quietly stacking up a strong second half of the year. Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez just became a three-division champion and is staring down a potential mega-fight with Naoya Inoue. The heavyweight division, which I wrote about back when Usyk survived and Kabayel waited, now has Itauma-Hrgovic adding real depth below the championship level. And the super featherweight division just got a new player in Ryan Garner.
Then there’s Pacquiao-Mayweather 2 in September — a fight that will dominate headlines whether you think it’s a legitimate contest or a nostalgia cash-in. (I lean toward the latter, but I’ll still watch.)
Garner isn’t a household name yet, but Saturday night in Southampton was the kind of performance that builds one. Weekend boxing results don’t always produce fireworks, but when they do — when a hometown kid digs deep and wins a phone booth war in front of his people — that’s the sport at its best.
Sources: Bad Left Hook, Boxing247.com, HeavyweightBoxing.com, ESPN Boxing, Yahoo Sports/Uncrowned, FightMag.