A busy weekend of boxing saw two veteran former world champions continue their unlikely comebacks with victories on Saturday night.
Former 154lbs and 160lbs world champion Sergio Martinez, 45 years old yet already ranked No.5 by the WBA at middleweight, scored his second win on the comeback trail with a ninth-round stoppage of Jussi Koivula (24-8-1, 9 KOs) at the Bolera Severino Prieto in Torrelavega, Spain.
The bout was stopped after a cut over Koivula’s left eye was deemed too serious to continue though, in truth, it didn’t seem quite that bad. Argentine Martinez (53-3-2, 29 KOs) is angling for a fight with WBA Regular 160lbs champion Ryota Murata.
WBO No.9 ranked 154-pounder Sergio Garcia (33-0, 14 KOs) halted Gregory Trenel (12-6-2, 3 KOs) in six on the undercard.
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Meanwhile, former world middleweight and super-middleweight title holder Felix Sturm returned after a near five-year absence to score a one-sided decision over the previously unbeaten Timo Rost (10-1-2, 3 KOs) at the Universum Gym in Hamburg, Germany.
The 41-year-old Sturm (41-5-2, 18 KOs) utilised his sound technique and experience to box to a comfortable victory. Scores were 100-90, 100-93 and 99-91.
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In a battle of dynamite punchers, WBC cruiserweight champion Ilunga ‘Junior’ Makabu (28-2, 25 KOs) detonated his left-hand bombs to clinch a seventh-round win over Nigerian banger Olenrewaju Duradola (34-8, 31 KOs) in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Saturday evening.
After six competitive rounds, the challenger punched himself into a standstill in the seventh. Southpaw Makabu, stopped by Tony Bellew in three rounds at Goodison Park in May 2016, merely bided his time, stunning Duradola with a left hand before poleaxing him with the same shot.
Duradola beat referee Jose Guadalupe Garcia’s count and wanted to continue, but the bout was waved off to seal victory for the Congolese champion.