By Sean McDaniel: EBU lightweight champion Gavin Rees successfully retained his European Boxing Union title on Saturday night with a 7th round TKO win over France’s Anthony Mezaache (21-7-3, 6 KO’s) at the Gymnase Georges Racine, Clichy la Garenne, Hauts-de-seine, Paris, France.
Rees, 31, making his third defense of his European Boxing Union crown and fighting on foreign turf, knocked Mezaache down with a powerful right hand in the 7th round. A badly hurt Mezaache got back to his feet and was immediately overwhelmed with shots from Rees until the referee Fabian Guggenheim stepped the fight with 45 seconds in the fight before Rees could really hurt Mezaache.

Rees controlled the entire fight with a ferocious body attack and heavy pressure. He mixed his shots up well throughout the fight and was never troubled by the light hitting Mezaache. When Mezaache did try and pressure Rees, he was met with hard body shots that stopped his attacks in their tracks.

The win keeps Rees dreams of getting a title shot against WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns alive. Ranked #14 WBO, Rees may need one or two more wins before he’s given serious consideration by Burns for a fight. The way that Rees fought tonight he’d give Burns some problems if he could get close to him without being grabbed all night long in clinches that Burns sometimes likes to use.

This fight may have been considered a competitive match-up on paper going into it but in reality it was a huge slaughter from star to the bitter finish, as Rees had way too much power for the light hitting Mezaache.

Rees suffered a cut on the bridge of his nose in the 2nd round, but it was pretty much all Rees in the first two rounds of the fight.

The third round saw some classic toe-to-toe action with both fighters just flailing away at each other without a care about defense. Rees, naturally, got the better of the action due to his superior power, but Mezaache fought remarkably well given his lack of power.

It was no longer a competitive fight after the third. Rees completely took control over the action and gave Mezaache a severe beating until the fight was halted in the 7th round.