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WWBU Monthly,
Volume 10, February 1903
It was finally here, the crowning of the first Heavyweight champion in WWBU history. While it was not the glamour match up of two undefeated fighters that some where hoping for (because of Page’s disqualification). The event still had boxing fans everywhere anticipating fight night. The Italian superstar, Alfio Righetti was the raging hot favourite, but as discussed before he is susceptible to early power (see his three first round knockdowns in his career) and Daniels has power that can worry even the best chins. It would be a month to remember as the WWBU really caught the imagination of the fans.
Title Bouts
13-01-1903 HW World Title
The biggest bout to this point of WWBU still nascent history featured the top ranked Frankie Daniels (#1, 24-5-0) taking on Italy’s boxing hero Alfio Righetti (#3, 22-0-1) for the WWBU Heavyweight title. Daniels was somewhat fortunate to find himself in the title bout when he was losing to Greg Page when Page was disqualified for his frequent fouling. Meanwhile Righetti struggled in the very early going against Jimmy Clark before establishing his game plan and cruising his way to a clear unanimous decision victory. It would appear the Daniels would need to catch Righetti early in the fight if he were to take the championship, with experts expecting an easy win for Righetti.
Unfortunately for fight fans everywhere Daniels appeared to believe he was lucky to be in this position and had sabotaged his chances by coming in looking positively obese. Righetti jumped on him from the outset and dominating the action till Daniels catches him with a hard right hand midway through the second round. Righetti was visibly hurt as he once again showed susceptibility in the early going. Righetti would survive the round and then take over the bout as he boxed rings around his under prepared opponent with swelling starting to be a significant factor from the fourth round as a result of all the strong rights he was eating. Righetti was never troubled from there, knocking Daniels down in the eighth and winning all rounds except the 14th on his way a dominant 148-136, 148-136 and 148-136 unanimous decision. Righetti is the first crowned champion of the WWBU.
Other Results of Note
HW Rex Layne #7 17-5-0 UD6 Mick Cornell 2-2-0
LHW Jacob Mofokeng 17-2-0 UD4 Ian Moss 1-1-0
MW Robin Reid #6 16-1-0 TKO4 Sean Becker 1-4-0
WW Reuben Shank #3 16-3-1 UD8 Randy Kimber 2-5-0
FW Baby Arizmendi 10-0-0 SD8 Leo Roy 11-1-0
BW Jiro Watanabe #1 19-1-0 KO4 Graham Millard 1-3-0
FLY Rosendo Alvarez #2 16-4-0 UD4 Duncan Demery 0-1-1
Current Rankings and Analysis
Heavyweight Division
Champ – Alfio Righetti
1. Frankie Daniels
2. Greg Page
3. Audley Harrison
4. Kevin Isaac
5. Jimmy Clark
6. Rex Layne
7. Tom Kennedy
8. Denver Ed Martin
Righetti wins the World title with his win over Daniels.
Light Heavyweight Division
Champ – Vacant
1. Michael Bennett
2. Victor Robledo
3. Leslie Stewart
4. Jacob Mofokeng
No Change
Middleweight Division
Champ – Vacant
1. Mike O’Dowd
2. George Abrams
3. Eric Lucas
4. Rocky Mosley Jr.
5. Vergil Cooper
6. Robin Reid
7. Daniel Santos
8. Charley Burley
No Change
Welterweight Division
Champ – Vacant
1. Felix Trinidad
2. Packy McFarland
3. Reuben Shank
4. Billy Backus
5. Sharmba Mitchell
No Change
Lightweight Division
Champ – Vacant
1. George Lavigne
2. Jack McAuliffe
No Change
Featherweight Division
Champ – Vacant
1. Jaime Garza
2. Vuyani Bungu
3. Ricardo Cardona
No Change
Bantamweight Division
Champ – Vacant
1. Jiro Watanabe
2. Felix Friedemann
3. Ruben Olivares
No Change
Flyweight Division
Champ – Vacant
1. Little Dado
2. Rosendo Alvanrez
No Change
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