Welshman Lee Selby moved closer to a shot at the world title at the Motor Sport Arena in Cardiff,Wales on Saturday night by out-pointing Romulo Koasicha over 12 rounds to win the WBC international featherweight title.
Apart from a few shaky moments in the eighth round where he was shaken with a left hook Selby pretty much controlled the fight as the 119-109(twice) and 119-110 scorecards suggested.
The win takes Selby’s record to 19-1 and could eventually lead him to a shot at WBC champion Jhonny Gonzalez.
Speaking after the fight Selby told Sky Sports:“It was a WBC eliminator. If I stopped the guy – he’s never been stopped before – it would have sent out a good message to the rest of the featherweight division.
“But I think I boxed well and I’m ready to move on now. I think I would hold my own with any featherweight, but I want to be ready to win the title and keep defending it and become a legend, ”added Selby.
On the Matchroom Sport promoted undercard former world light welterweight champion Gavin Rees retired from the sport after a long and successful career with a win over fellow Welsh rival Gary Buckland.
Buckland won their first meeting on points a real cracker of a fight and this one was pretty much the same. Rees had already decided beforehand that win or lose this was going to be his last fight. The scores were 117-112 and 117-113 for Rees and 116-113 for Buckland. Rees bows out with a 38-4-1-(18).
In the third title fight on the card former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly made a successful debut in the cruiserweight division when he scored a second round tko win over Shawn Corbin. Cleverly won the vacant WBA Inter-continental title.
Other results
WBC International super middleweight title Callum Smith w tko 2 Tobias Webb
light welterweight Chris Jenkins w tko 7 Miguel Aguilar
light middleweight Dale Evans drew 4 Mark Douglas
light heavyweight Paul Smith w tko2 David Sarabia
light welterweight Mitch Buckland w pts 6 Daza Usher
featherweight Robbie Turley w rtd 2 Marc Callaghan
middleweight Alex Hughes w tko 4 Mark Till