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September 17th, 2005.
London, England. Middleweight Maurice Hope added the vacant European title to his british and Commonwealth straps when he outpointed Italy's Vito Antuofermo over twelve rounds. The scores were 117-111 twice, and 117-110, all for Hope.
Antuofermo got off to a good start, winning the first three rounds, which were all lively. Hope then began to take control of the fight by boxing at a distance from the tough Italian, who wanted to get in close and rough it up. Hope edged the fourth, but then won the next three rounds comfortably, cutting up Antuofermo's right eye in the process. Antofermo narrowly won the eighth, but Hope then took control of the fight, and floored his opponent in the tenth with a combination of punches. he stayed out of danger for the rest of the bout and took the decision and the title.
"I'm thrilled to bits," the new champion said after the bout, with his new belt around his waist and his British and Commonwealth titles slung over his shoulders. "I want to add the world title now, then have a domestic showdown with Allan Minter, [who fought earlier in the night]."
In the chief support, Lennox Lewis tore through 'Big' John Tate and stopped him at 2.11 of the opening round. Lewis was absolutely awesome and was landing at will when the referee stopped the fight. Again he called out the top boys in the division.
Undercard Action.
Allan 'Boom Boom' Minter knocked out high ranking American middleweight Frank Tate with a wicked combination of punches to the head and body, after 40 seconds of the eighth round. Tate narrowly edged the opener, with Minter losing a point for hitting low. Minter stepped up a few gears in the second round however, and dominated for the remainder of the bout.
After a close opening two rounds, Japan's Tadeshi Mihara knocked out Brazil's Roggerio Caciatore at 2.32 of the third. Cacciatore had already been down twice in the third, both from bodyshots, and the final crippling bodyshot put him away for good.
Shinji Takehara stopped 'Irish' Chris Walsh at 2.22 of the sixth. It was a close bout up to the sixth, with Takehara slighly edging it. Walsh hit the deck in the sixth from a crippling bodyshot and couldn't recover, with Takehara finishing him off.
Carlos 'Sugar' DeLeon had an impressive debut, by beating Jody Ballard by unanimous decision with his sharp boxing skills. Scores were 40-36, 40-37, and 39-37.
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