Soliman, Gostelow reign supreme on Melbourne's Docks
Leading Melbourne promoter Brian Amatruda presented an entertaining eight-fight card at the Docklands' prestigious Shed 14 venue. The card was "Dual Main Event" card was headlined by Sam Soliman who faced The Contender Australia's Les Piper for regional honours as well as Lance Gostelow who faced former Commonwealth welterweight champion Fatai Onikeke. Photo by Brock Ellis.
THE KING TOO CLASSY FOR DIAMOND PIPER
In the main event of the evening, Sam "King" Soliman captured the interim WBF middleweight title and successfully defended his IBF Australasian middleweight title when he stopped Australian super-middleweight champion Les "Diamond" Piper in seven rounds. Coming into the fight, many doubted if Soliman still had the ability to compete at the highest level having faced some of the best fighters in the world over the last ten years, whereas Piper was coming off an appearance on the upcoming cable television show The Contender.
After a very competitive and closely fought start, Soliman began to slowly break away from Piper who was taking a big step up in class. Soliman was very frustrated in the opening two rounds as Piper's team adopted a very unusual tactic of shouting insults at the defending champion rather than instruct their charge. Soliman and Piper were exchanged in some very good trades and it was looking as if the fight was going to go the full distance as both are not renowned big-punchers.
However, Soliman caught Piper with a great body shot that surprisingly floored the usually very durable Piper. Piper rose in a lot of pain before the count of eight but was quickly finished off by the more experienced Soliman who knows how to finish his opponent once he has them hurt.
GOSTELOW TOO QUICK FOR ONIKEKE
In what looked to be the most intriguing matchup of the night, Lance Gostelow put on a boxing exhibition as he completely dominated former Commonwealth welterweight champion Fatai Onikeke over twelve rounds to successfully defend his WBO Oriental light-welterweight title as well as claim the vacant WBO African and vacant WBF light-welterweight titles.
Although having fought only once in almost two years, many insiders tipped Onikeke to be a very live underdog as twenty of his twenty-two wins had come by way of knockout and both of Gostelow's two losses had come via the short route. However, Gostelow was ahead from start to finish landing a complete kit of punches on Onikeke who at times seemed more at home laughing and dancing instead of fighting.
Throughout the opening four rounds, Gostelow boxed very carefully and landed his jab with blistering pace and almost perfect precision. After getting a large amount of success with his jab, Gostelow began to slowly mix it up more and more as the fight wore on but was very careful not to stay on the ropes for much longer than a few brief moments as Onikeke has always been known for his one-punch knockout power.
As round after round went by, Gostelow's lead was only growing and growing and although he appeared to be in a very urgent position, Onikeke still plodded along at a very slow pace and waited for Gostelow to unload in combinations of at least three or four punches before throwing anything of his own back.
To his credit, Gostelow stuck to his game plan and won a well deserved 120-108 (twice), 119-109 unanimous points decision.
LOVETT SCRAPES HOME AGAINST MUMTAZ
After a year out of the year, Daniel "Porky" Lovett was very lucky to escape with a split points victory over the talented but misguided Kiwi Kashif Mumtaz. The fight marked a one year absence from the ring for Lovett who was making his first appearance since his Victorian fight of the year stoppage loss to Tim Bell.
Lovett entered the ring to an enormous cheer from the pro-Lovett crowd which took half of the sold out venue and they remained just as vocal from start to finish. Lovett boxed well in the opening rounds as Mumtaz seemed to pick his punches more and aim for the harder shots.
Mumtaz started to get alot of success in the third when he started to land his right hand with alot more power and pace as he seemed to hurt the former WBA #15 ranked contender. Both fighters stood toe to toe in the final two rounds and the fans were on their feet. However at the final bell it appears as if the faces told the story as Lovett's face was a bloody mess, whereas Mumtaz barely had a mark. Although the fight could have went either way.
CESSAIRE WINS SNOREFEST OVER COSTELLO
In a six round contest, Rivan Cessaire scored a unpopular split points decision over Ben Costello. It appeared as if Costello had outworked Cessaire from the outset and was the only applying any pressure from start to finish. Costello worked Cessaire's body well, outworking the Commonwealth Games expat in every round and was very unlucky not to get the nod.
RULLO GETS LAST MINUTE DRAW AGAINST GEE-HOY
In the most exciting prelim bout, Jordan Gee-Hoy and Pat Rullo fought out an entertaining six round draw. Gee-Hoy outworked his opponent in the opening two rounds and was aided by a point deduction from Rullo for holding. However Rullo rallied late and almost appeared to take the fight but the point deduction ended up costing him the fight; an entertaining scrap that would make for an even better rematch.
IANNAZZO IN BRUTAL MISMATCH
If you were looking for words to describe the fight that took place between undefeated WBO#14 super-bantamweight Daniel Iannazzo and 41-year old pro debutant Darren De Gabriel, brutal mismatch would be very close to the mark. Iannazzo's original opponent Rocky Ledama pulled out only days before the contest, forcing promoter Brian Amatruda to go on a nationwide search to find a new opponent for Iannazzo. Everyone in the country refused so De Gabriel took the fight and as expected was blown out within a minute. The only lowlight of a very great show.
COLOMBAN OUTWORKS OLARTE OVER SIX
The battle between the exports was a great spectacle as Samuel Colomban and Rey Anton Olarte went at it non-stop for six rounds. Colomban, who was the naturally bigger of the two fighters used his reach to try and capitalise on Olarte's lack of reach but it was only successful for the opening two rounds. Olarte, who has fought the best fighters in the country then began to work out Colomban's strategy and began firing massive overhand lefts that landed with great success. At the end of the six rounds, Colomban's right eye was severely swollen but he won a close but comfortable unanimous points victory.