Johnny Fisher got the win his Zuffa Boxing debut needed, but not in the fashion anyone at the Copper Box Arena was expecting. The unbeaten heavyweight prospect needed oxygen in his corner after grinding out a majority decision over Belgian journeyman Michael Pirotton on Saturday night, a result that stretched his record to 15-1 but did little to settle the doubts that have followed him since his shock stoppage loss to Dave Allen at the same venue last year.
A Familiar Venue, an Unfamiliar Scare
Fisher returned to the scene of his only professional defeat looking to draw a clean line under it. For five rounds, he did exactly that. He worked behind a heavy jab, dug in with the body shots his new trainer Tony Sims had clearly drilled into the camp, and opened a cut over Pirotton’s left eye that a doctor checked in round four. Fisher had spoken before the fight about identifying a weakness in his opponent’s frame, saying Pirotton was “a big tall unit but he’s not got a lot of flesh on the bone”, and the early rounds looked like a man executing a game plan to the letter.
What followed was far less comfortable. From the sixth round onwards, Fisher’s work rate dropped sharply and Pirotton, who had arrived at the Copper Box as a heavy underdog at odds of around -1200 against him, began landing his right hand with increasing regularity. By the final round, Pirotton’s eye was almost completely closed, yet it was Fisher who looked the more spent of the two fighters, breathing heavily and requiring oxygen in the dressing room once the final bell had sounded.
A Split Verdict That Told Its Own Story
The scorecards reflected exactly how the fight had swung. Two judges gave it to Fisher, 98-92 and 96-95, while the third scored it an even 95-95. A majority decision after ten rounds against an opponent making his first appearance under the Zuffa Boxing banner and previously beaten twice inside the past two years is not the kind of scoreline that quietens critics, and it did not take long for the wider boxing world to say so. Boxing247 described Pirotton as having made Fisher “work for” the win, while BoxingNews24 called it a “messy return” and questioned whether his conditioning is where it needs to be before he steps up in class.
Pirotton, for his part, had warned before the opening bell that being underestimated was his only real advantage. “I know I’m supposed to lose,” he said at the pre-fight press conference, referencing Conor Benn’s recent knockout loss to Ryan Garcia and adding, only half joking, that he hoped for the same outcome against Fisher. He fell agonisingly short of pulling off the upset, but left having done far more to trouble his more heavily backed opponent than the pre-fight odds suggested he would.
Sky Sports Analyst Urges Caution
The performance has already prompted pundits to counsel against rushing Fisher into a step up. Sky Sports analyst Johnny Nelson said plainly that Fisher “needs to be smart with who he fights next”, specifically warning against a fight with Dillian Whyte at this stage of his rebuild. It is a notable intervention given how keen Fisher’s promotional team have appeared to move him back towards the domestic heavyweight picture since his switch from Matchroom to Zuffa Boxing earlier this year, and it underlines just how unconvincing Saturday’s win looked to those watching closely.
What Comes Next for Fisher
Nothing has been confirmed yet about Fisher’s next assignment. What is clear is that this was meant to be a confidence-building step back into world-level company after the trauma of the Allen defeat, and instead it has raised fresh questions about his stamina and his readiness to share a ring with the division’s bigger names. Pirotton, who moves to 12-3, will look to parlay a career-best performance into another meaningful opportunity of his own. For Fisher, the record now reads 15-1, but on this evidence, Zuffa Boxing and Tony Sims still have plenty of work to do before he is ready for the kind of fight his profile in British heavyweight boxing suggests he should be chasing.
