Boxing round-up: Joe Joyce halts Kash Ali late as Dillian Whyte makes ring return

Joe Joyce’s promoter Frank Warren admitted the Putney heavyweight looked a bit ring rusty in his 10th round stoppage of Kash Ali in Birmingham on Saturday.

The 38-year-old, a former amateur at Earlsfield ABC, got back on the winning trail after successive defeats to Zhilei Zhang last year.

Joyce was able to drop Ali in the closing stages and he failed to beat the referee’s count.

“He is coming off two losses and it took quite a while for him to get his rhythm and his mojo going,” said Warren. “He did what he had to do at the end. If he had pressed him earlier I think he’d have stopped him a bit earlier. He got the stoppage and the cobwebs out of his system.

“There is a great rematch with Joe Parker to be made.”

Joyce said: “There is a lot more to come from me over the rest of the year.”

Brixton heavyweight Dillian Whyte made his ring return after nearly a 16-month absence as he defeated Christian Hammer in Ireland.

His German opponent retired at the end of the third round.

Whyte, 35, improved his record to 30-3 (20KOs).

PICTURE: QUEENSBERRY PROMOTIONS