Paul Malignaggi thrashes Vyacheslav Senchenko to become WBA World welterweight champion – Boxing News
Paul Malignaggi, the former WBO NABO and IBF light welterweight champion, created the greatest upset of boxing history by grabbing a ninth-round explosive technical knockout win over Vyacheslav Senchenko, the former WBA World welterweight champion. Malignaggi
relinquished Vyacheslav from his precious title, in a 12-round bout held on April 29, 2012.
The ring for the epic clash was stretched at Donbass Arena situated in Donetsk, Ukraine and the event was promoted by Yuriy Ruban of Union Boxing Promotion. The above duo headlined the event whereas the Sunday night showdown was co-headlined by the WBA Inter-Continental
cruiserweight championship bout between Iago Kiladze and Julien Perriaux.
The odds from the very beginning were slightly in favour of Ukrainian proud Senchenko not only because he was brawling in his hometown but also because he was defending his title for the fourth consecutive time.
In addition, nobody expected that Senchenko will lose a battle via technical knockout as he was the one who boasted 21 of his total 32 wins via KO as compared to Paul, who was just able to nail six opponents by knockout.
Moreover, Vyacheslav proudly secured the ninth spot in the world rankings as compared to Paul’s 27th and boasted a huge undefeated win streak of 32 wins in 32 bouts.
All these odds were nullified by the witty game plan followed by the American proud Paul who was also deficient in the significant facet of height and therefore the reach. Paul, 31, was in his career’s 35th bout and boasted 30 wins. He has proudly held almost
all the apex divisional titles and was on a three-bout win streak after his last loss to Amir Khan.
Despite all the odds almost against him, Paul, widely known as ‘The Magic Man’, started things off by leashing a fast and swift attack comprised of powerful jabs that were almost invisible to Senchenko.
During the first three rounds, Paul set the pace and controlled the brawl but from fourth round and onwards Senchenko started to predict Paul’s moves and therefore countered some of them impressively.
The situation was just getting in Senchenko’s favour when Paul noticed the bulging under the champion’s left eye. Paul instantly changed his strategy and from seventh round onwards the former WBC International light welterweight champion, Paul started pounding
Vyacheslav injured eye so much so that after the passage of one minute and 10 seconds of the ninth round, Steve Smoger, the bout-referee intervened and halted the bout.
Steve had no other choice but to do so since Senchenko’s left eye was totally closed and he was hardly able to open it. With this astounding win, Paul has become the two-time two-divisional world champion and now boasts 31 wins with seven via KO.
Vyacheslav, unfortunately, has not only lost his title but was also unsuccessful in defending his long win streak and therefore collected his career’s first ever loss.
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