Unbeaten welterweight Zino Meuli (13-0, 6 KOs) took a hard-fought majority decision over Josef Zahradnik (10-1, 5 KOs) on Wednesday night at the Bodensee-Arena in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. Meuli started well, using his longer reach to keep the aggressive Zahradnik at bay while connecting with well-timed straight punches. Halfway through a very competitive fight it appeared that local man Meuli had gained control, but the visitor never gave up and finished stronger. Swiss Judge Joerg Mangott saw the fight completely even at 114-114, but he was overruled by 115-113 and 116-112 scores in favor of Meuli from Germany´s Alexander Plumanns and Howard Goldberg from South Africa. The win earned Meuli the World Boxing Federation (WBF) world title.
WBF President Goldberg, a veteran of over one-hundred world title fights as a judge and referee but in Switzerland for WBF meetings, stepped in on short notice to save the day when another judge fell out.
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Also on December 26, super middleweight Abdallah Paziwapazi (25-6-1, 22 KOs) scored a sixth round knockout Francis Cheka (34-13-2, 18 KOs) in a local grudge-match to win the vacant WBF Intercontinental title in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.