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It was a double disaster for the
loyal boxing fans of Douai,
France, as popular local
favorites Farid Chebabha and
Mohamed Merah both came up short
on Friday night, March 20, in
World Boxing Federation (WBF)
championship fights at a packed
Salle Gayant.
Chebabha, making his second
defense of the WBF International
Light Welterweight title he won
in April 2014, boxed wisely in
the first round and got off to a
perfect start when he knocked
down Italian Challenger Marco
Siciliano with a right to the
temple.
But Siciliano brawled his way
back into the fight, and on
several occasions it was
toe-to-toe action and a great
fight for the fans. Siciliano
conclusively took over in the
second half of the fight, and
finished with a very strong last
round to put an extra stamp on
what was likely the best
performance of his career.
Judges Jean-Marcel Nartz and
Jacqui Vaillant both scored the
ten rounder 95-94 in favor of
Marco Siciliano, improving his
record to 11-3 (5), while
Christophe Hembert had it 95-94
for Chebabha, who drops to
16-3-4 (1). Referee was Mufadel
Elghazaoui.
After forfeiting the crown last
year when he lost a challenge
for another organizations title,
Mohamed Merah failed to regain
the vacant WBF International
Light Heavyweight championship
in the co-featured bout against
tough co-challenger Tomas Adamek
from the Czech Republic.
In another good, hard and close
fight, the local man got the
short end of of a majority
decision, as judges Jacqui
Vaillant and Mufadel Elghazaoui
scored it 98-92, which seemed
too wide, and 96-94 for Adamek,
and judge Jean-Marcel Nartz had
it all even at 95-95. In charge
of the action was referee
Christophe Hembert.
New champion Tomas “Jumbo”
Adamek improved his professional
record to 22-10-2 (8), and
Mohamed Merah falls to 12-3-3
(4).
The show was promoted by Douai
Boxing Club and Rani Fellouki.
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