In a thrilling battle, Frenchmen Guillaume Salingue clinched the vacant WBF Intercontinental lightweight title with a twelve-round unanimous decision victory over Italian Doménico Urbano at the Salle Leo Lagrange in his hometown Bruay-la-Buissière, Pas-de-Calais, France last Saturday night.
Both fighter engaged in a exciting fight from the get-go. In the heat of the action, the Italian was deducted a point in round eight because he complained to referee Jean-Pierre van Imschoot.
However, things evened up when Salingue was deducted a point himself in the eleventh for holding. Despite the point deductions, both fighters engaged in a clean fight.
The crowd– who had to wait 90 minutes longer than expected for the main event – definitely got their money’s worth in France. The hometown-favorite Salingue controlled the bout from the outside with his quickness and punch accuracy. His foe tried to apply pressure and was able to snatch a couple rounds. But he was not able to stun or even hurt Salingue at any point and was out-boxed for the majority of the stanzas.
After twelve entertaining rounds, the three judges were in agreement and scored the bout 117-109, 115-112 and 115-111 for Salingue, who moves his record to 29-0 and might be in line for a crack at the vacant WBF world lightweight championship. Urbano gave a spirited effort but lost fair and square. He falls to 23-3-1.
