Boxing In Europe: Wlodarczk, Katsidis Win World Title Fights

ByHermann Helmut

Good night of boxing last evening across Europe and we kick things off with a WBC cruiserweight title clash at Atlas Arena in Lodz, Poland.

Former IBF kingpin Krzysztof Wlodarczk and Giacobbe Fragomeni headlined the show as they went for Fragomeni’s old WBC title in a rematch to their draw of a year ago.

The pair battled evenly during the first half of the contest until Wlodarczk began to pull away, dropping the Italian to the canvas in the sixth but the end came in the eighth when Fragomeni again was down and the bout was called off at 0:44 of the round.

Wlodarczk wins the WBC title, improving to 43-2-1 (32), while Frasgomeni has now lost two title bouts in a row, falling to 26-3-1 (10).

At Upton Park in London, England, local hero Kevin Mitchell, 31-1 (23), was stopped in the third round of his challenge to WBO Interim lightweight titlist Michael Katsidis, 27-2 (22), while British heavyweight champion and former world title challenger Danny Williams, 41-9 (31), was finished off in the second round by Derek Chisora, 13-0 (8).

Herning Kongrescenter in Herning, Denmark played host to the WBC, WBA and WBO female welter title clash won on points by Cecelia Braekhus, 14-0 (2), over Victoria Cisneros, 5-9-2 (1), after ten frames.

At La Cubierta in Madrid, Spain, flyweight Silvio Olteanu, 11-3 (5), continued his amazing career turnaround after three initial losses, defending the European Union belt via a wide unanimous decision over former European king Bernard Inom, 20-2-1 (10).

The University Arena in Limerick, Ireland saw middleweight Andy Lee, 21-1 (15), defeated ex-European light middle beltholder Mamadou Thiam, 46-9 (43), when the 38 year old Frenchman suffered an injury and could not answer the bell for the third round.