Boxing News Boxing News
We kick off this brief Friday night report in America where there was an IBO Featherweight crown at stake at Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, CT. Reigning champion Thomas “The Rock” Mashaba came into the clash on the strength of ten straight victories, nine of which were for either the IBO belts at 126 and 122 or the South African Super Bantam title.
But challenger Cristobal Cruz brought that success to a grinding halt. The 30 year old veteran of Mexican ring wars put on the performance of his 15 year pro career by mounting a furious high volume attack that the champion could not match. After 12 gruelling rounds, Cruz, 36-11-1 (23), won two of the scorecards 115-113 while Mashaba, 20-2-4 (12), managed to go 114-114 on the third , resulting in a majority decision victory for the challenger.
On the undercard, the unheralded Jose Luis Gonzales, 11-2-1 (9), battled highly touted light middleweight prospect Jason LeHoullier, 21-0-1 (8), to a draw for the vacant NABA title.
At the New Alhambra in Philadelphia, PA, native Tanzanian Rogers “The Tiger” Mtagwa, 25-12-2 (17), followed up his split decision win last year against Aldo Valtierra, 24-10 (13), with a more clear-cut unanimous decision.
Speaking of rematches, we head down to Estadio Socios Fundadores in Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina, where Hector David Saldiva, 25-1 (19), avenged the only loss of his career by wiping out Jorge Daniel Miranda, 25-5 (9), in the first round to annex the Argentine Welterweight title.
We’ve got to cross the Pacific for more action and we next hit Australian shores where at the Leagues Club in the Sydney suburb of Cronulla, welterweight Robert Medley, 19-1 (13), bounced back from a failed bid to unseat IBO Champ Isaac Hlatswayo last year by forcing a corner retirement before the fifth frame against Dondon Sultan, 15-10-2 (7), to cage the vacant IBO Intercontinental crown.
At the RSL Club in Southport, Gold Coast, Australian Super Middleweight kingpin Les Sherrington, 19-4 (12), climbed off the canvas in the first round to knock out novice Charles Njock, 2-3-1 (0), in the eighth.
Fights were sparse this Friday and next we take a long, long, long plane ride to sunny Spain. The Pabellon Cabanal in Valencia saw ex-WBA Light Welter titlist Diosbelys Hurtado, 40-3-1 (25), win his second bout after sitting out over three years by posting a six round points win over durable Romainian welter trial Horse Eugene Stan, 4-34-1 (1), who has never been stopped.
We bring things to a close in nearby Algarve, Portugal where super bantam Franklin Teran, 25-2 (20), knocked out Zsolt Nagy, 11-3 (5), in the tenth and final round and Hoang Sang Nguyen, 21-5-1 (10), stopped Bela Sandor, 9-52-3 (5), in the fourth.
