By Ken Hissner: At Parc des expositions, Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, France, over ESPN+ Friday All Star Boxing presented in the co-Main Event WBA Inter-Continental Super Welterweight champion Souleymane Cissokho defeated by majority decision Tulani Mbenge, for the vacant WBC Silver Welterweight title over 12 rounds.
In the co-main event, WBA International and WBC Continental Americas Super Middleweight champion Christian “Solide” Mbilli won a lopsided decision over Vaughn “The Animal” Alexander.
In the co-main event, Olympic Bronze Medalist and WBA Inter-Continental champ ranked No. 11 by the WBC Souleymane Cissokho, 16-0 (9), of Dakar, Senegal, and Bagnolet, Seine-Saint-Denis, FR, won a close decision over No. 5 Tulani Mbenge, 19-2 (15), of Eastern Cape, RSA, over 12 rounds.
In the first two rounds, Mbenge, the aggressor use a solid longer jab as Cissokho countered but not enough to win the round. In the third and fourth rounds, it was Mbenge in the final minute landing long rights to the chin of Cissokho.
In the fifth round, Cissokho continues blocking most of Mbenge’s punches but doesn’t do enough in return to win the rounds. In the final fifteen seconds, Cissokho landed a left hook knocking Mbgeng back and off balance. In the sixth round, Cissokho knocked out the mouthpiece of Mbenge midway.
In the final minute, Mbenge landed a right on the chin buckling the knees of Cissokho, whose knee touched the canvas, but Referee Pablo Gonzalez ruled it a slip.
In the seventh round’s final seconds, Cissokho landed a right stunning Mbenge. In the eighth round, Mbenge continued to throw many more punches, with not a majority landing but more than Cissokho lands. In the ninth and tenth rounds, Cissokho came back well enough to win the round with rights to the chin of Mbenge.
In the eleventh round, with Cissokho finally not moving around the ring, he stayed in the middle of the round, landing a solid right on the chin, being the best punch of the round. The twelfth and final round was the most action round of the fight, with Mbenge having the edge. The ring commentator was pro-Cissokho the entire fight.
Scores were 115-115 and 116-112 twice Cissokho, this writer for Mbenga, 115-113.
In the co-main event, WBA Int’l and WBC Continental Americas Super Middle champ ranked No. 3 by WBC Christian “Solide” Mbilli, 23-0 (20), of Yaounde, Cameroon, and Pornic, Loire-Atlantique, FR, easily defeated Vaughn “The Animal” Alexander, 17-7-1 (10), of St. Louis, MO, over 10 lopsided rounds.
Inside the first minute, Mbilli landed a low left, dropping Alexander, who needed several minutes to recover from referee Christo Fernandez. Mbilli easily took the rest of the round.
In the second through the seventh rounds, it was all Mbilli having Alexander against the ropes, for the most part returning little. In the eighth round, Alexander became the aggressor for the first time in the fight in the ninth round.
In the tenth and final round, Mbilli had Alexander once again pinned on the ropes trying for the knockout. Alexander has only been stopped once in his career. What was holding him up, you have to question, as Mbilli won this one easily.
Scores were 99-91 twice and 98-92 with the same from the writer.
Welterweight Hugo Micallef, 5-0 (0), of Monte Carlo, Monaco, defeated southpaw Lesther Lara Rodriguez, 17-13-2 (7), of Bocana de Paiwas, ARG, over six rounds
In the first five rounds, Micallef used his hand speed, landing uppercuts with both hands to outland Rodriguez. In the middle of the third, Rodriguez landed his best right hook to the chin of Micallef, otherwise on the receiving end. In the sixth and final round, a clash of heads caused a cut on the right eyebrow halfway through the round.
The scores were 59-55 and 60-54 twice, as did this writer.
Lightweight Christ “Little T” Esabe, 13-0 (3), of Les Mureaxe, FR, defeated Darwin Martinez, 7-9-2 (6), of NIC and Gerona, SP, over six action-packed rounds.
In the first round, Martinez showed more power, and Esabe landed more. With thirty seconds to go, both landed right hands to the chin at the same time.
You would never know Martinez lost his last six fights. In the next two rounds, Esable used a solid jab while Martinez right leads.
After a minute into the rounds, Esable rocked Martinez with a combination to the chin. Esable landed three right-hand punches, one after another to the chin of Martinez.
In the fifth round, the action was furious from the midway point on, with Martinez doing some showboating. In the sixth and final rounds, both had their moments, and neither deserves to lose this one, so a draw would be good.
The referee was Christofe Potier. The scores were 59-55 twice and 60-54. This writer scored it 57-57.