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WBC cruiserweight champion Krysztof Wlodarczyk retained his belt with a 12 round decision over visiting challenger Francisco Palacios last night at Hala Stulecia in Wroclaw, Poland.
The pair were reprising their April, 2011 clash, which also took place in Poland, in which Wlodarczyk kept his title with a controversial split decision.
Wlodarczyk, coming off a stoppage win against former IBO beltholder Danny Green almost a year ago, started the Palacios rematch slowly, studying his adversary and looking to avoid another close contest.
Palacios, whose only two bouts of record have been against Wlodarczyk, used his faster hands and awkward style to try and get the champion off his foundation but the far more experienced Pole kept composed.
As the bout progressed, the pair fell into a cycle of taking turns, first going on offense then shelling up for the inevitable return fire, producing an even bout over the first nine rounds.
The tenth proved to be the turning point as Wlodarczyk reversed a run of success by Palacios with the best punch of the fight, sending the Puerto Rican into a tailspin that was only broken by the ending of the round.
The challenger was unable to break the hold of Wlodarczyk over the final two frames as the Warsaw man cruised to a 117-112, 116-113, 116-112 decision on the cards.
On the undercard, 21 year old American based Pole Kamil Laszczyk, 10-0 (6), defeated 37 year old Romanian Ghenadie Delisandru, 18-15-1 (6), after two rounds on an injury-related technical decision for the vacant WBC Baltic Silver feather belt.
Ex-IBO middleweight title challenger Mariusz Cendrowski, 23-4-2 (8), outpointed Bernard Donfack, 14-10-3 (6), over eight rounds by scores of 79-73, 78-74 and 78-74.
