Tonight at the Stade Roi Baudouin in Brussels, Belgium, WBA cruiserweight world champion and local favorite Ryad Mehry (30-1, 25 KOs) retained his title with an eighth round TKO over WBA #14 rated Zhaoxin Zhang (10-2-1, 6 KOs) of China. Mehry was in command all the way, dropping Zhang in round three. In round eight, Mehry floored Zhang again with a huge left hook. Zhang beat the count again, but the ref ruled he couldn’t continue.
Rounding out undercard:
Hovahannes Martirosyan (12-0) RTD 8 Renald Garrido (25-29-3) 10 rds Hovahannes wins vacant BeNeLux Super Light Title
Antionie Vanackere (17-1-0) UD Nazri Rahimo (9-3-0) 10 rds Vanackere wins vacant IBO Continental Super Light Title
Steve Eloundou Ntere (5-0) UD Zura Mekereshvili (16-30-1) 10 rds Ntere wins Vacant Belgium Cruiser Title
Moahmmed El Maracouchi (28-2-0) UD Gary Abajyan (26-41-1-) 10 rds, vacant IBO International Super Light Title
Miko Khatachatryan (13-0) KO 3 Michael Pappoe (26-8-0) 10 rds, Khatachatryan wins vacant IBO International Super Feather Title
Femke Hermans (12-3-0) KO 3 Luiza Davydova (5-3-0), 10 2mn rds Hermans wins vacant EBU European Super Middle Title
Kevin Lele Sadjo (16-0) UD Javier Francisco Maciel (33-13-0) 8 rds
Sohaib El Sialiti (7-0) UD Ivan Njegac (12-18-0) 6 rds super lightweights
Samuel Kadje (15-1) KO 3 Vukasin Obradovic (6-17-1) 6rds cruiserweights
Youri Kayembre Kalenga (27-6-0) KO 1 Mikheil Khutsishvili (31-44-6) 6 rds cruiserweights
Dominik Harawankowski (5-0) UD Giorgi Gachechiladze (16-39-1) 4 rds lighweights
Bruno Jacobs (3-0) UD Danijel Kruljec (0-3-0) 4 rds light heavyweights
Should I be surprised, but the WBA strikes again! A guy with a 10-1 record should not really be fighting for a world title, but hey, maybe he’s been in deep. Wrong! I looked up Zhangs record and he’s only fought in China against other Chinese fighters with records like 5-4. I read the interview with Mehry, who I’ve never heard of until now, and the interviewer asked “how did it feel to get the call to inform you you are the new WBA champion?”….that’s how he won the title, via phone call! Mehry may very well be a helluva fighter, but the WBA is seriously in crisis. I wouldn’t be surprised if they folded in a year.
Yep, Zhang had no business being in a title fight. Too much, too soon, too big of a step up for him tonight. There’s a lot wrong with this boxing, but the WBA is the single biggest embarrassment in the sport right now. Unfortunately, much like herpes, they’re not going away. In a sport with little to no oversight, they can continue with their nonsense indefinitely.
This would be good…unification. It seems lately like a lot of the continental European fighters based in Europe aren’t interested in unifying titles you have to set up a high stakes tournament like the with the cruiserweights a while ago to get it to happen otherwise its too tempting to sell out venues as a local/national hero against mandatories forever…imo.
okolie he has wbo lives in england