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American Yusaf Mack didn’t pose much of a threat to IBF super middle champ Carl Froch on Saturday night as “The Cobra” retained his belt at home in front of a packed Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England.
Mack tried to keep the champion at range with the jab but was in trouble as early as the first frame as local hero Froch belted the challenger to the floor with a left-right combination.
The visitor saw out the first stanza by using survival tactics and appeared to regain his composure in the second but by round’s end was getting punished by the Englishman.
Froch bettered his work in the third by landing a crippling head-body-head sequence that shattered Mack’s resistance, sending the Philadelphian down hard, where he was counted out at 2:30 of the round.
Froch retains the IBF belt for the first time, improving to 30-2 (22), while Mack loses his second world title shot, falling to 31-5-2 (17).
The chief support bout featured light heavyweight action as Liverpool’s Tony Bellew, 19-1 (12), drubbed Argentina’s Roberto Feliciano Bolonti, 30-2 (19), over 12 rounds to capture the vacant WBC Silver title.
Bolonti was making the first appearance not only outside his homeland but also against anything other than domestic competition and it did not go well for the man from Mar Del Plata.
Bellew was in control from the start, whipping home confident combinations that had Bolonti on the floor in the first and third. Bolonti’s lone moment of success came in the third when he raked Bellew with a left hook that caused a laceration in the Brit’s right eyebrow.
The injury bled badly and caused Bellew to back off the accelerator for the rest of the fight. The former world title challenger used his significant height and reach advantages to box Bolonti from a distance.
Despite the injury, Bellew was in fine form, racking up the rounds while preventing the South American from forming any kind of offense.
After 12 rounds, Bellew swept the scorecards by margins of 120-106, 120-106 and 119-107.
