Boxing News Boxing News
After two tours of duty as European champion and a shot at the WBA belt, Sebastian Sylvester clawed his way to a world title tonight at Jahnsportforum in Neubrandenberg, Germany.
The 29 year old local man, nicknamed “Hurrikan”, started fast as expected against opponent Giovanni Lorenzo of New York but had difficulty navigating the distance Lorenzo maintained during the early rounds.
The American based visitor repeatedly picked off the German with sharp punches and seemed to be on the way to controlling the contest until Sylvester’s pressure began to pay off.
As Lorenzo slowed down at the midway point, Sylvester began to take over and ruled the rounds from that point on apart from the seventh, as Lorenzo rallied to shake up the former two-time European champion.
It was a bout difficult to score in many rounds and after the twelfth and final frame came and went, the official scorecards read 116-112 and 115-113 for Sylvester and 116-111 for Lorenzo.
Sebastian Sylvester captures the vacant IBF middleweight title, improving to 32-3 (15), while Giovanni Lorenzo has now lost two of his last three to drop to 27-2 (19).
On the undercard, former British and Commonwealth titlist Matt Skelton, 22-4 (19), came up short for the second time in a row, electing not to answer the bell after seven hard rounds against European Union champ Francesco Pianete,19-0-1 (12).
