|
But in contrast to Knezevic, he
had stepped in with anyone
coming his way and was thus a
hardened warrior. He never took
a backward step and after
holding his own pretty well over
the first four rounds, he
basically took over from the
fifth onwards.
Knezevic was deducted a point in
round eight for repeatedly
spitting out his gumshield and
was finally and mercifully
halted, a completely spend force
by then, by referee Ernst
Salzgeber at 2:38 min. of the
tenth round. After nine rounds,
judges Erwin Straub and Willi
Vogl had the hometown favourite
behind 87:84 and 87:83
respectively, while the third
judge, Josef Temml, came up with
a rather strange 85:85 score.
In the second World Boxing
Federation title fight on this
bill, Swiss-Albanian Sefer
Seferi, now 11-0 (10), had no
problems easily brushing aside
Hungary’s Viktor Szalai, also a
last-minute substitute for Adnan
Buharalija, in just two rounds
of a mismatch. Referee Salzgeber
stopped the carnage after three
knockdowns at 1:31 of the second
round and expectedly awarded
Seferi the WBFed
Intercontinental cruiserweight
crown.
WBFed president Howard Goldberg
of South Africa was ringside and
said: “Seferi is a very strong
and exiting fighter. When he
next defends the title against
top opponents, I am sure he will
show a lot and make quite some
headlines.” |
