Nikita Tszyu has overcome a nasty mid-fight moment to score a unanimous points win over Danilo Creati and retain his Australian super welterweight title at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion.
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Tszyu (9-0, 8 KOs) caught Creati (8-2-1, 1 KO), with some powerful left hand shots in the first round in Wednesday's clash, and the Italian-born challenger had a knockdown scored against him in the second, when his glove brushed the canvas.
Watched by his elder brother and former WBO junior middleweight champion Tim, who is reported to be likely to face Vergil Ortiz in August, Nikita went on to earn the win by scores of 100-88, 99-90 and 100-89.
It had earlier looked like being an early night for the champion as he continued to punish the challenger through the next two rounds after the knockdown, but Creati showed his toughness.
After landing several shots in the fifth, Creati jolted Tszyu with a big right hand in the sixth.
He wobbled the champion but Creati couldn't follow up and the chance to spring an upset passed, though the challenger still landed some good one-off shots throughout the fight.
"I wasn't concerned, I've copped worse at the Hordern, I always get rocked here, whats with this place?" Tszyu quipped.
"It was great to go to 10 rounds, it was great to get that experience in."
Tszyu regained the ascendancy in the latter rounds, pounding 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, retained 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 win over New Zealand's Jerome Pampellone.
ZInad, who improved to 22-0, displayed good skills and a strong chin to earn the win over Pampellone, who lost for the first time in 19 professional bouts.
In a women's WBA super flyweight world title fight, Sydney-based challenger Linn Sandstrom suffered a unanimous points loss to Argentina's Clara Lescurat.
The 35-year-old champion's unrelenting body attack and quick combinations proved too much for Brazil-born, Sweden-raised Sandstrom who was brave but outclassed.
Lescurat, who made her fourth successful title defence, won by margins of four, eight and 10 points on the judges' scorecards.
Cesar Mateo Tapia won the WBO Latino middleweight title with a unanimous 10-round points win over Venezuela's Keiber Gonzalez.
Tapia, who was born in Mexico, raised In Sydney and resides in Florida, improved his record to 17-0 and inflicted a first professional loss in 21 professional bouts on Gonzalez.
Australian Associated Press
