Last night in front of 6,000 fans at the Palais des Sport in Marseille, WBA Bantamweight Champion Wladimir Sidorenko retained his belt for the fifth consecutive time with a seventh round knockout of French titlist Jerome Arnould.

From the start Arnould was outclassed and couldn't cope with the experience and high energy style of Sidorenko, 20-0-2 (7). By the fifth, the light hitting champion had Arnould, 14-3-1 (9), on the floor before canvassing the Frenchman for good in the seventh frame.

Earlier on the card, Anne Sophie Mathis of Dombasle, France kept her WBA Female Light Welter crown with a close majority decision over popular local ticket seller Myriam Lamare in a rematch.

The two had originally faced off last December with the heavy handed Mathis stopping reigning WBA champion Lamare in seven but this time the bout went the distance.

As the much shorter fighter, Lamare pressed the action early and scored well with jabs on the way in and with damaging hooks once inside.

But by the fourth Lamare had expended her reserves in an effort to knock out her opponent and Mathis went to work with cool, clinical precision.

Increasingly under fire, Lamare backed out of punishing exchanges with the hammer fisted Mathis and tried to fight on the ropes where her shorter arms might score inside the champion's rangy reach.

But it was to no avail and for the rest of the fight, Mathis tracked down the challenger and simply beat up a courageous Lamare with both hands until the tenth and final round.

The scores didn't quite reflect the disparity in the fight as Mathis won a majority decision on the cards, 98-92, 98-93 and 95-95.

Mathis retains her WBA title for the first time and improves to 16-1 (14) while Lamare drops to 13-2 (6).

Also on the bill, veteran Rachid Kanfoua, 28-6 (22), won the French Light Heavy title with a hard fought and close unanimous decision over Karim Bennama, 16-9-2 (3), via scores of 97-94, 96-95 and 95-94.

Ex-two time European and French Welter titlist Frederick Klose, 41-5 (8), outpointed Frank Harroche Horta, 10-5-3 (2), over eight.

Hamburg based lightweight Willy Blain stayed undefeated at 17-0 (3) with an eight round decision over durable journeyman Tarik Amrouse, 9-16-2 (2).

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