Denis Shafikov successfully defends title against arch rival Brunet Zamora – Boxing News
Denis Shafikov, the current EBU (European) light welterweight champion, successfully defended his title and his undefeated streak against Italian proud Brunet Zamora, the former WBA Inter-Continental light welterweight champion, in a 12-round bout held on
May 31, 2012.
The duo headlined the pay-per-view organised and promoted by Oleg Bogdanov of Trinity Promotion and the ring for the event was set up at Ufa Arena situated in Ufa, Russia.
The showdown was co-headlined by the non-title eight-round bout between Konstantin Ponomarev and Marat Khuzeev and the extravaganza was televised live on TV 2 of Russia.
Denis possessed a clear upper hand over his Thursday night opponent and had substantial odds in his favour. The Russian number one light welterweight was entering in his career’s 30th bout and boasted an undefeated streak with 28 wins.
In addition, the southpaw pugilist has collected 17 of his wins by knocking the opponent out cold and also possessed the home country advantage. Also known as ‘Djingis Khan’, Denis grabbed his EBU (European) light welterweight by collecting an impressive
rather intimidating win over Giuseppe Lauri and since then has successfully defended it against Lee McAllister.
His opponent, Brunet, 37, was entering in his career’s 25th bout and boasted 22 wins. The veteran Italian has nailed 10 of his opponents by knockout and has held and defended the WBA Inter-Continental light welterweight title for several times.
Also known as ‘El Italian Salsero’, the orthodox was coming from a points decision win over Santos Medrano. Though he has collected just one loss in his career yet he stood no chance at all in front of Denis.
Another facet that made the bout interesting was the fact that both men were taking on each other for the second time. In the first clash, the bout was denoted as a majority decision draw, the reason why this sequel is arranged.
Denis started things off in his renowned brawling stance that is at a slow pace and connected jabs carefully while defending himself. During the initial three rounds, it was Denis who dominated by his powerful and agile jabs and continuously battered Zamora
so much so that in the fourth round Denis was an inch close to grab a knockout win but Brunet’s resilience aided him in sustaining the barrage.
At the end of the 12-round showdown, all the three judges allocated 117-111, 117-112, and 117-113 in favour of Denis eventually announcing him as the winner and still the EBU (European) light welterweight champion.
With this win Denis now boasts 30 wins and a huge undefeated streak whereas Brunet has grabbed his career’s very first loss.
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