[kenyan_cheena]

BRONZE MEDALLIST OUTHUSTLED IN ROME

Wednesday 16 October 2002

In something of a surprise outcome Italian bronze medallist Duilio Loi was outfought by compatriot Bruno Arcari tonight at the Sports Palace in Rome. Arcari proved too aggressive, enthusiastic and tough for Loi to handle and took a 58-57, 59-56, 58-57 unanimous decision verdict to improve to 2-0. Arcari set the tone early, dominating the opening two rounds before bloodying Loi's nose in round four and leading by at least two points on all three judge's cards heading into the final stanza. It was only then that Loi showed some of the talent that had led to many proclaiming him as a lock to top the Welterweight division's Europe/Africa regional group but as the saying goes, it was too little too late. Arcari savoured the victory afterwards, ecstatic that he had caused such a boilover and saying that he hoped the win would bring him "some respect from the local media", who have heaped praise upon Loi in recent weeks.

Germany's Gustave Eder remained perfect with a unanimous decision victory over Nigeria's Ademola Udeze in the Co-Feature. Udeze had scored a surprisingly-dominant victory over Ghana's Ike Quartey on debut but couldn't reproduce that performance tonight as Eder floored him late in round two and cruised to a 58-56, 60-55, 58-56 victory. As for Quartey, he engaged in an action-packed tussle with British fighter Lloyd Honeyghan. It was a much improved performance by the Ghanian, the two men exchanging volumes of leather with Honeyghan rallying late to sweep each judge's card in the 5th and 6th and force a drawn verdict (58-57 (Quartey), 57-57, 59-55 (Honeyghan)).