Dib Retains IBF Crown Against Servidei In Sydney

IBF feather titlist Billy Dib had a short night's work on Saturday at Homebush Sports Centre in Sydney, Australia, knocking out previously undefeated challenger Alberto Servidei.

Dib, 26 years of age, was making the first defense of the title he won in July by outpointing Mexican veteran Jorge Lacierva and from the first bell was in command against Servidei.

36 year old southpaw challenger, from Ravenna, Italy, started out by walking forward behind a high guard but initially did little but block the jabs of Dib.

Servidei scored with a few body shots, which only served to make Dib aggressive. As the local Sydney man began to pressure Servidei, the challenger was unable to land several big haymakers.

Servidei then went down from a hard shot but a knockdown wasn't called as Dib then began to land body shots with both hands.

When driven into a corner, Servidei managed to block Dib's headshots behind a high guard, allowing the champion to go to the body until a hard left to the ribs put Servidei down.

The Italian was counted out at 2:38 of the first frame.

Dib improves to 33-1 (20), while retaining the IBF belt. Servidei, who drops to 31-1-2 (7), had previously held the European and Italian titles, but had faced a long line of undistinguished opposition and was clearly out of his depth at his first try at world level.