James DeGale stuns Cristian Sanavia and defends EBU super middleweight title - Boxing News
James DeGale, the EBU (European) super middleweight champion, defied all odds and stunned the whole world by collecting an impressive fourth-round knockout win over his Saturday night veteran opponent, Cristian Sanavia, the former WBC super middleweight
champion hence defending his title emphatically in a bout held on April 21, 2012.
The ring for the bout was stretched at Arena Nord situated in Frederikshavn, Denmark and the event was promoted by the duo of Nisse Sauerland of SPAG and Luca Ferrara of Round Zero.
James and Cristian fought on the undercard of the hefty pay-per-view which was headlined by the WBA International featherweight championship bout between Andreas Evensen and Willie Casey and was co-headlined by the WBA Inter-Continental middleweight championship
clash between Patrick Nielsen and Gaston Alejandro Vega.
James, 26, was a clear underdog but surprisingly put forth the boxing fanatics a startling performance that mesmerised them. From the very beginning of the bout, as it was expected, James used his footwork and agility and did not allow Sanavia to land and
connect his powerful experienced jabs.
The critics were expecting that DeGale, who was in his career’s 13th bout, will duly be annihilated by the 37-year-old southpaw Sanavia who was in his 52nd bout. But this did not happen and the outcome of the bout shocked the whole boxing world.
James, who boasted eight of his 11 wins via knockout, proved that his fists are lethal. During the whole bout, the British southpaw put forth a flawless performance and outclassed the Italian convincingly.
Cristian, who boasted 45 wins and 13 of them by knockout, was unable to counter DeGale’s vicious and swift attack and just kept on taking the punishment. Whenever he got close enough to connect a punch to James’ chin, the latter moved away and rattled former’s
senses by his left hook.
During the first three rounds, James pummelled Cristian so much that the Italian legend lost his hold not only on the bout but also on his own self. With the start of the fourth round, James moved in and leashed his final wave of fists connecting Sanavia’s
body and face.
Sanavia was so much fatigued that he was unable to defend himself and fell on the ring floor thrice. The bout-referee had no other choice but to halt the bout and announce the defending champion James as the winner via technical knockout.
With this huge win James has shown that he is a lethal threat to the ace super middleweights and is moving up step by step to become the world champion. In a short age with least experience, an emphatic win like this one has substantially boosted him up
not only in the rankings but also in the media.
James now has 12 wins and nine via knockout. Sanavia, on the other hand, should now seriously think of hanging his gloves because the current loss has proved that he has lost the ability to take on men like James.
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