- Nikita Tszyu has extended his undefeated record
- The Australian champion defeated Danilo Creati
- He had to endure a barrage in the sixth round to win.
Nikita Tszyu has overcome an unpleasant mid-fight moment to claim a unanimous points victory over Danilo Creati and retain his Australian super welterweight title at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion.
Tszyu (9-0, 8 KOs) caught Creati (8-2-1, 1 KO) with some powerful left jabs in the first round of Wednesday’s clash, and the Italian-born challenger took a knockdown against him in the second, when his glove grazed the canvas.
Watched by his older brother and former WBO junior middleweight champion Tim, who will likely face Vergil Ortiz in August, Nikita was victorious by scores of 100-88, 99-90 and 100-89.
It looked like it was an early night for the champion earlier, as he continued to punish the challenger for the next two rounds after the knockdown, but Creati showed his toughness.
After landing several shots in the fifth, Creati rocked Tszyu with a big right hand in the sixth.
Nikita Tszyu extended his undefeated record with another victory on Wednesday
The Australian retained his title with a unanimous points victory in Sydney
He staggered the champion, but Creati could not continue and the opportunity to cause an upset passed, although the challenger still landed some good single blows throughout the fight.
“I wasn’t worried, in Hordern I did worse, they always shake me here, what’s wrong with this place?” Tszyu joked.
“It was great to get to 10 rounds, it was great to have that experience.”
Tszyu regained dominance in the later rounds, pummeling his opponent in the ninth and 10th, but Creati demonstrated tremendous conditioning and durability.
Tszyu was taken beyond the sixth round for the first time and Creati, whose only previous loss was to Michael Zerafa, maintained his proud record of never being stopped as a professional.
Earlier, Malik Zinad became the first Libyan to qualify for a professional world title fight with a classy performance in his 12-round majority points victory over New Zealander Jerome Pampellone.
ZInad, who improved to 22-0, showed good skills and a strong chin to earn the victory over Pampellone, who lost for the first time in 19 professional fights.
In a fight for the WBA women’s super flyweight world title, Sydney-based challenger Linn Sandstrom suffered a unanimous points defeat to Argentina’s Clara Lescurat.
His proud older brother, Tim, watched as he achieved an impressive victory.
The 35-year-old champion’s relentless body attack and quick combinations proved too much for Brazilian-born, Swedish-raised Sandstrom, who was brave but outmatched.
Lescurat, who made his fourth successful title defense, won by margins of four, eight and 10 points on the judges’ scorecards.
César Mateo Tapia won the WBO Latin middleweight title with a unanimous 10-round victory over Venezuelan Keiber González.
Tapia, who was born in Mexico, raised in Sydney and resides in Florida, improved his record to 17-0 and handed Gonzalez his first professional loss in 21 professional fights.