Lee Selby sets up title shot with decision against Koasicha

Lee Selby sets up title shot with decision against Koasicha

On a solid night of action at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales, UK provided by Matchroom Boxing, Lee Selby outpointed the Mexican Romulo Koasicha to retain his WBC International featherweight title and live on Sky Sports. Selby took the decision 119-109, 119-109 & 119-110 on the judges scorecard.

In what was billed as a WBC featherweight eliminator, Selby (19-1, 7 KOs) dominated the fight from the outset without ever boxing out of his comfort zone against a tough Mexican in Koasicha (21-4). Selby counterpunched well with his excellent hand speed, whilst still leaving fans guessing as to how good the 27 year old Welshman can go on to be. Koasicha failed to impress and catch the judges’ eye with anything other than a swinging left hook in the eighth round that sent Selby into a mini-crisis from which he soon recovered.

Whilst Selby will be looking towards a world title shot, the general view is that he has still not performed to his very best and as such should be tested more before making the step up to the hallowed plate.

Nathan Cleverly, the former WBO light heavyweight champion, returned to the scene of his first professional defeat by stopping his opponent, Shawn Corbin, in the second round of his first fight up at the higher division of cruiserweight. Cleverly (27-1, 13 KOs) was annihilated by Sergey Kovalev last August inside four rounds and many wondered what affect that defeat had made on the mental strength of the 27 year old Welshman. Those fears quickly evaporated as Cleverly bossed the fight from the opening bell before forcing the referee to stop the contest with less than a minute to go in the second round. Cleverly picked up the vacant WBA Inter-Continental title in the process.

Cleverly’s arch-rival, Tony Bellew, was ringside for the fight – working as a pundit for Sky Sports – and the two look set to meet for a second time before the end of this year, providing they both come through their respective fights on the same bill in Liverpool in July.

After their fight of the year contender back in February at the same arena, Gavin Rees & Gary Buckland went toe-to-toe again in twelve rounds of fantastic action. In his last professional fight the 34 year old Rees brought the curtain down on his career with a split decision victory of 117-112, 117-113 & 116-113 on the judges scorecards. Rees, a former World, British & European champion finishes his career with a record of 38-4-1, whilst Buckland slips to 23-4 and will look at his own options on where his career must go next.

The opening six rounds were a tight affair with Buckland’s high work-rate being counted by Rees’ accuracy, with both men being level at 57-57 on my own card. However the longer the fight progressed the more Rees supposedly moved ahead on the scorecard, with Buckland slowing in his movement and punch speed, as Rees began to pick his fellow Welshman off with well timed shots to both the head and body.

As the fight entered the final round Rees made sure there was nothing left in the tank as he unloaded with a sustained attack which had Buckland in a level of trouble. There were small boos in the crowd as a split decision was announced by the M.C., but they soon turned to cheers when the Welsh fans were told that Rees had got the win that he truly deserved.

Also in action on the night was the youngest of the fighting Smith brothers, Callum, who consolidated his position as one of the most talented prospects opponents by destroying Tobias Webb (14-2-1) inside two rounds to retain his WBC International super middleweight tile with a devastating performance. Smith (11-0, 9 KOs) arguably had the most difficult round of his short career in the opener as Webb used his speed to land multiple jabs on the 24 year old star.

However Smith responded in outstanding fashion in the second round as he sent Webb to the canvas four times with shattering left and right hooks to the body before the Welsh Area super middleweight champion was counted out. In the immediate post-fight interview all the questions were about who the young Smith could possibly face in his next outing in Liverpool in July. Smith seems destined to become a world champion, with analyst Tony Bellew making a bold claim that Smith could go on to unify the division in the future. ‘Mundo’, as he is known, certainly has one of the brightest futures in world boxing.

Callum’s older brother and the current he British super middleweight champion, Paul Smith Jnr, was in action in an eight round contest against the Spaniard David Sarabia. After Smith (35-3, 20 KOs) dropped Sarabia (7-4-2) in the first round, the referee was forced to jump and stop the contest as the Liverpudlian rained down hard shots onto the inexperienced Spaniard and the referee waived off the contest. Smith Jnr is currently in talks to face reigning WBO super middleweight world champion Arthur Abraham in the summer in what would be his first world title shot at the age of 31 years old.

-Dominic Rowan / @Dom1878
-Contributor to www.BehindTheGloves.com