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French hero Yvan Mendy crowned
himself the new World Boxing
Federation Intercontinental
light welterweight champion last
Friday night, June 4, in a fight
that put many a world title
matches to shame when he won a
clear, but hard-fought unanimous
decision over teak-tough Irish
champion Peter McDonagh.
Mendy’s loyal fans created an
exiting atmosphere in his
hometown of Pont St. Maxence,
but the 25-year-old remained
calm in his biggest fight so
far. McDonagh, whose bare record
is more than just deceiving and
who came into this fight on the
strength of upsetting French
champion Christoper Sebire, got
off to a better start, but with
each passing round, Mendy (now
20-1) got into it much better.
Soon, the Frenchman dominated
with his precise punching,
although he had to carefully
pick his opening as McDonagh
remained a danger throughout.
After 12 rounds of exiting
action, both Polish judge
Zbigniew Lagosz and France’ Noel
Monnet had it 117:112 for Mendy,
while Belgium’s Alain Hemelaars
scored 119:113 in favour of the
new champion.
Promoter Giovanni Boggia
announced afterwards that he
plans for Mendy to defend the
title in December. |
