Frank Buglioni vs Fanlong Meng stopped early on a cruel cut
Frank Buglioni suffered a horrendous cut to his right eye as he was subject to a TKO defeat to Fanlong Meng in Monaco.
The 'Wise Guy' had his moments of success through the first four rounds at the Casino de Monte-Carlo as he looked set to rip the IBF Inter-Continental light-heavyweight title away from Meng, but a deep cut across the right eyelid, caused by a punch, forced the referee to end proceedings in the fifth.
'Cold Blood' Meng, 30 from China, improves his record to 14-0 while Buglioni, a former world title challenger, falls to 22-4-1.
A former amateur standout, Meng demonstrated his slick, accurate technical skills early on, working behind a southpaw stance to land a straight left and flash uppercut in the opener, before a classy left hand off the back foot quickly had him two rounds up.
After stern words from trainer Don Charles, 'Wise Guy' reacted well in the third, piling forward to fire home a short right on the inside as he started to rough up the Chinese slickster, the Brit beginning to build momentum.
Despite a promising period for Buglioni, Meng took control again and began to dictate proceedings thereafter, planting his feet in the centre of the ring and driving home a selection of shots to leave the Londoner's nose cut and bloodied.
Trainer Charles tried to spark his man into life in between rounds and the popular Enfield fighter rallied well in the early goings of the fifth but a decisive cut marked up his eyelid.
The referee gave Buglioni the opportunity to fight on, but the deep cut only got worse and forced the man in the middle to call a halt to the contest.
In a highly controversial decision, WBA World super-flyweight champion Khalid Yafai (25-0, 15 KOs) defeated former world title challenger Israel Gonzalez (23-3, 10 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision.
“Very sloppy, very sloppy indeed,” said a deflated Yafai post-fight. “I’m a bit embarrassed tonight. I thought the scores were a bit wide, but 100 per cent I thought I won. I never made the statement I wanted to.”
2012 Olympian Michael Hunter (16-1, 11 KOs) had too much hand speed, youth and talent for 41-year-old Alexander Ustinov (34-3 25 KOs), stopping him in the eighth round to win the vacant WBA International heavyweight belt.
Outweighed by 66 pounds, the 213lb Hunter knocked the hulking 279lb Ustinov down in the eighth segment after nailing him hard with two big right hands to the head. In the ninth, Hunter dropped the Russian again with a big left hand. Badly hurt, Ustinov made it back to his feet, but the referee Gustavo Padilla halted the fight anyway. The official time of the stoppage was at 1:52 of round nine.
Denis Lebedev outclassed a brave Mike Wilson in Monte Carlo on Saturday as he continued his resurgence in the cruiserweight division.
The 39-year old Russian, a former unified world champion, dictated proceedings from the off and showed his class to dominate 'White Delight' Wilson at the Casino de Monte-Carlo, scoring a 117-111 and 119-109 twice unanimous verdict.
Lebedev now wants to take on undisputed kingpin Olexsandr Usyk having improved his record to 32-2.
The highly talented 2016 Olympic gold medalist Daniyar Yeleussinov (5-0, 3 KOs) destroyed Marcos Mojica (16-3-2, 12 KOs) by a 3rd round knockout in welterweight action. The 27-year-old former Kazakhstan amateur star Yeleussinov knocked Mojica down two times in the 2nd round, and then dropped him a third time in the third to get the knockout.