Relief and joy were huge on Saturday evening in Peter Kadiru’s camp. “I am happy that it went so well. It feels a bit like I have exorcised some demons inside of me,” said the heavyweight boxer from the Hamburg after defeating Macedonian Alen Lauriolle (35), who lives in Germany, by stoppage after round one in the London O2 Arena.

It was the 25-year-old’s return after being knocked out in round one by Argentine Marcos Aumada in November 2022 and suffering his first defeat as a professional.

“The loss in my last fight was of course a huge shock for me,” says Peter Kadiru in an interview with the Abendblatt, his first interview since his KO loss. “It really hurt my ego. I had felt invincible, but that night I simply wasn’t focused enough and I paid the price for it.” He retreated completely for two weeks after the devastating experience, “I just needed some peace and quiet to process it all,” he says.

Kadiru preparing for his comeback: Pter Kadiru has been Anthony Joshua’s sparring partner in Dallas (USA) for several weeks. There, the British heavyweight boxer prepared for his fight against American Jermaine Franklin at the boxing gym of his new trainer Derrick James.

Back again! Kadiru won thanks to devastating body shots

Kadiru had taken the initiative from the start and worked on the overwhelmed opponent mainly with body shots. “I saw that he can really take a lot to the head, but doesn’t like the punches to the body,” said the 25-year-old from Hamburg about his tactics. In fact, Lauriolle gave up after the first round with strong pain and swelling in his rib cage.

Kadiru, Youth Olympic champion of 2014, has won 14 out of 15 professional fights, seven of them by knockout.