World-rated Brock Jarvis 18-0 (16) stopped Mark Schleibs 12-1 (8) in five one-sided rounds at Coorong Pavilion at Exhibition Park in Canberra, Australia on Friday night.
The 23-year-old Jarvis, who is trained by Hall of Famer Jeff Fenech, was making his featherweight debut against Australian bantamweight champion Schleibs, 27.
Schleibs came to fight but it was the relentless attacking style of Jarvis that told the story of the fight. The undefeated Sydneysider crowded Schleibs in close, banging away to the body and head without remorse or pause.
The pressure and the pace of the fight wore on the smaller Schleibs, who tried valiantly to find his spots, but Jarvis simply wore him down with each and every round.
The end came in the fifth when a left rip sunk Schleibs to the canvas where he was counted out by referee Les Fear at the 1:16 mark.
“Mark put up a good fight, I thank him for that. It was a good one,” Jarvis said in the ring post-fight.
“It was good, Mark put up a good fight so I thank him for that. I haven’t fought in over a year, but I’ve been busy in the gym. I was confident I’d be fine, thanks to Luke Jackson, Hassan Hamden, all the guys I’ve been sparring.
“I still think we have a lot of work to do. I’ll keep working on it.”
Fenech praised his young charge after the fight and admitted Schleibs surprised him.
“He just keeps getting better. He’s still a novice, he’s still learning,” he said.
“Mark surprised me. Things happen in the heat of the moment. I can’t thank you guys enough for putting up a great fight.
“We’re just taking it one step at a time, never going to put the cart in front of the horse. As soon as this pandemic is over, we’ll be going over to America to train.
“You saw him fight five really hard rounds, he had 10 left in him. I love being associated with him.”
In the main support bout IBF number 10 ranked lightweight Jacob ‘The Flamingo’ Ng 14-0 (11) had to climb off the canvas in the opening round to defeat big-hitting Hunter Ioane 8-1-1 (5) by fifth-round stoppage and an all-action brawl.
The 26-year-old Ng was on the wrong end of a big right hand early in the first and had to rely on his guile and experience to navigate his way to the bell.
Ioane came out to end the show in the second, but found Ng still had plenty of fight left in him with the Queenslander dropping him twice with right hands late in the round.
A big shot from Ioane sent Ng staggering backward across the ring in the third round to momentarily rejuvenate the Melburnian, but Ng finished the stronger of the two.
The back-and-forth action continued in the fourth with Ioane loading up with every shot but Ng landing the sharper blows.
In the fifth it was clear that Ioane had already emptied his tank as he struggled to hold his gloves up as Ng teed off on him, forcing referee Phil Austin to step in and stop the fight at the 1:20 mark.
“I got caught. Just needed to box and move. When I boxing and just tapping away from the outside I was schooling it, so a little bit of ring rust there, but I was happy to get the win in the end,” said Ng.
When asked how it felt to be involved in one of the fights of the year, Ng responded: “Just another day in the office for The Flamingo. Have you seen any of my other fights? It’s happened three times!
“I keep getting caught, but I keep getting up and stopping them. I’m doing something right, I’ve just got to work on my chin and keeping my hands up.”
The scores at the time of the stoppage were 38-36, 38-35 and 38-35, all for Ng.
