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On Saturday December 12, World
Boxing Federation (WBF)
championship fights took place
in Davao City, Philippines,
Strasbourg, France and Gien,
France. Two champions retained
their titles, while one new
champion was crowned.
At the Davao City Sports &
Recreation Center, WBF Asia
Pacific Bantamweight Champion
Kenny Demecillo was in with his
biggest test to date in former
World Super Flyweight Champion
Edrin Dapudong, and only just
managed to hold on to his title
after a hard fight.
Both boxers had their fair share
of success, and while Demecillo
appeared to be the fresher of
the two, Dapudong, six years
older at twenty-nine, had a
clear advantage in experience
and used all of his
ring-knowledge to try to
unsettle the younger man.
But after ten rounds, the judges
could not separate them and the
fight was declared a draw as
judge Alberto Brembot Dualas
scored it 96-94 for Demecillo,
judge Sabas Ponpon Jr. scored it
97-93 for Dapudong and judge
Romy Fordaliza had it all even
at 95-95.
With his championship belt still
around his waist after what was
his first title-defense,
Demecillo now spots a
professional record of 10-3-2
(7), and Dapudong goes to 31-6-1
(19). Promoter was Sonshine
Sports Management Inc.
In Strasbourg, France there was
almost no fight when
co-challenger Caroline Schroeder
from Germany pulled out of her
encounter for the vacant WBF
Womens World Featherweight title
with former French and European
champion Stephanie Ducastel
moments before the weigh-in,
claiming illness.
Schroeder explained that she
woke up that morning feeling
sick, but strangely didn’t think
it was appropriate to inform the
promoter until the following
afternoon. With time running
out, and crucial hours already
lost, hard work was put in to
save the main event, and
miraculously Romanian Gabriella
Mezei agreed to jump on a plane
that same night.
With little sleep, and obviously
no time to prepare properly for
a world title fight, Mezei
actually put on a great
performance and didn’t look like
the last-notice substitute she
was. Boxing very nicely, the
visitor had nothing to lose,
never appeared in awe of the
moment, and did all she could to
make the most of the
opportunity.
The somewhat unexpected tough
challenge in front of her forced
Ducastel to make things rough
and use her size advantage, but
Mezei was fully in the fight
when a swelling of her right eye
ended matters immediately after
the bell to start round seven.
The result was a technical
knockout victory for Ducastel,
but at the time of stoppage
judge Tonio Tiberi only favored
the Frenchwoman by one point,
58-57, while judges Vincent
Dupas and Jean-Marcel Nartz had
it slightly wider at 58-56.
The new WBF Womens World
Featherweight Champion improved
her pro statistics to 6-3-1 (1),
while the other heroin of the
night, Gabriella Mezei, falls to
a very misleading 4-4-2 (2) and
deserves all the credit in the
world for how she saved the
evening for all involved, and
how well she did in the ring.
With 800 loud fans packing the
Salle Cuiry in Gien, France, WBF
Intercontinental Middleweight
Champion Michel Mothmora
retained his title with a
hard-fought but deserved
unanimous decision over durable
and game challenger Laszlo
Fazekas from Hungary.
Mothmora used his jab well from
the start, and landed
well-placed combinations to both
body and head, as Fazekas was
looking for a knockout with hard
hooks. The Hungarian went down
in round two, but didn’t appear
to be hurt and referee Uwe Lorch
ruled it a slip.
It was more of the same from
round three, as Mothmora worked
hard and well with combinations
and the shorter Fazekas had some
success getting on the inside
and landing with his hooks. In
round five he went down again,
this time it was called a
knockdown, but he took the count
and recovered quickly.
Judges Jacky Vaillant and
Mohamed Hireche scored the
twelve-rounder 116-111 for
Mothmora, who improved to 28-24
(10), and judge Zbigniew Lagosz
saw it slightly closer at
116-112. Living up to his
“Bulldog” ring-moniker, Fazekas
goes back to Budapest at 28-23-1
(18).
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