BACK WITH A VENGEANCE
The British Lionhearts defeat Italy in Milan
THE British Lionhearts picked up their first away win in this season of the World Series of Boxing when they travelled to Milan to beat Italia Thunder 4-1. Frazer Clarke came back from injury to box for the first time since last year’s European championships. He had five hard rounds to warm up for the Commonwealth Games against quality Italian super-heavyweight Guido Vianello. But Frazer dominated.
Vianello tried to jab him back. Clarke however began to work in combination. A hard right over the top, followed by a left hook forced Vianello back and earned the Italian’s respect. That respect would bleed into fear. Guido did not have the strength to meet Frazer head on as the Briton took the centre of the ring. Frazer fired another salvo, dropping Vianello with a fine left hook in the first round.
Clarke punished him with body shots as well as blows to the head. But Vianello did well to last the five round distance, swinging defiant shots overs the top in the final round. Clarke won 50-45 and 50-44 on the other two cards.
Flyweight Will Cawley put his deft skills to work, shifting back on his feet before stepping in to catch Claudio Grande with fast combinations. The Italian maintained constant aggression, swinging hefty punches at his elusive target, only to see the Briton outbox him. Cawley won a split decision 50-45 and 50-44 on two cards, although one judge diverged wildly and scored 48-45 for the Italian.
British welterweight Cyrus Pattinson was boxing well, timing his attacks against Mirko Natalizi. Pattinson won the second round, only for the Italian to smash a right hook fully into the Briton’s jaw. It dropped Pattinson heavily to the canvas and he could not recover in time, stopped at 2-30 of the third round.
Irish star Joe Ward was boxing for the Lionhearts at 81kgs. His southpaw jab softened up Blagoy Naydenov. Ward controlled the fight, bombing one-two combinations down on his opponent. Joe turned up the pressure, forcing Naydenov on to the backfoot, countering him and hurting him in the last round with his backhand left. Ward won a unanimous decision, shutting out Naydenov 50-45 on all three cards.
Dzmity Asanau guested for the Lionhearts at lightweight. He also shut out his opponent, beating Kiril Rusinov 50-45 on all three cards.