British Boxing: Geard Ajetovic Shocks French Veteran Robert Roselia

British based middleweight Geard Ajetovic of Prescot, England traveled to France on Tuesday and surprised his more seasoned opponent Robert Roselia, with a hard fought split decision victory at the Parcs Des Sports in Pont Audemer.

Going into this bout, reigning IBF Intercontinental Super Middle Champ Roselia, 26-4-1 (14), was chiefly known for ending the amazing 27 year career of Italian national hero and 49 year old ex-WBC/WBO/European Light Middleweight Champion Gianfranco Rosi with an eleventh round KO in October of last year.

Ajetovic, 13-1-1 (6), originally from Beoein, Serbia, had matriculated against journeymen in the UK until stepping up in class to face future European Union light middle titlist Christophe Canclaux in a losing effort 14 months ago in Monaco.

At 26, Ajetovich had five years on Roselia and put his youth to good use, pressing the Frenchman for most of the bout and generally enjoying success once on the inside of the Continental veteran’s defensive circle.

In the fifth, referee Robin Dolpierre judged Ajetovic to be too aggressive in his manner of gaining close quarters with his opponent and warned the Serbian native for use of the head.

Ajetovic was undeterred however and pressed full steam ahead, wearing down his older rival with the passing of each frame but could not ever bring the clash to an early finish.

After the tenth and final round, Ajetovich was declared to be the victor by a split decision that saw surprising scores of 96-94, 95-94 to the Serb and a controversial 94-95 score in favor of Roselia.

With the win, Ajetovich could be on a collision course with any number of European contenders at middleweight but high profile domestic skirmishes with the likes of undefeated contenders such as Paul Smith and Darren McDermott could be the type of big fight that has so far eluded the bull like Ajetovich.

In the main event at the Parcs Des Sports, French featherweight hopeful Myriam Chomaz fought through a bad cut on her scalp but could not get past Bulgarian campaigner Galina Koleva Ivanov, who outpointed the Grenoble prospect via majority decision to annex the Women’s European Featherweight title.

Ivanov, 8-5-2 (0), wins for the first time in three tries and the southpaw has now fought as a super flyweight, bantam and featherweight during the past 15 months.

Chomaz suffers her first loss as a professional and now stands at 7-1 (5).