Franco Passanante (Switzerland) was last night crowned the new WBF World super middleweight champion at the Hotel Marsoel in Chur, Switzerland.

But the local hero was made to work hard for the title on the Stjepan Herzeg (Boxklub) promotion with a gruelling and enthrawling 7 rounds with the 2x African Boxing Union and 2x Ghanaian super middleweight champion Flash Issaka of Ghana.

While Passanante won every one of the 7 rounds on all 3 judges scorecards this by no means did justice to the resilience and courage of the visiting Ghanaian. On more than one occassion when Issaka looked to be heading for the canvas or the referee Oliver Duetschler (Switzerland) looked close to stepping in, Issaka would counter with a straight left to temporarily halt the onslaught.

But temporary it was, for Passanante was pumped up and on fire for this fight. The ever supportive home crowd was passionately behind their man and he was dishing out punishment round after ferocious round.

The first two rounds saw Passanante just edging it with both fighters sizing each other up and Passanante coming to terms with Issaka’s looming 6′ 1″ presence and long reach advantage. His answer in the 3rd and for the rest of the fight was to work close, fast and to the body giving Issaka no time or space to take any advantage of his height or reach.

The plan worked brilliantly for Passanante. Issaka found himself on the ropes time and again and with his opponent constantly in front of him there was no escape. Some brave counter punching from the Ghanaian, some of which found the mark was not enough for Issaka to deter the local favourite.

Round 4 saw Issaka close to being floored and again in round 5 where the bell probably saved the fight from ending here. Rounds 6 and 7 saw Issaka again rocking following an onslaught from Passanante and yet again he managed to stay on his feet. At this point Passanante must have wondered what else he had to do to take out his opponent.

Ultimately though the barrage of punches from Passanante was too much for Issaka who retired on his stool after the 7th round to the jubilation of Passanante, his manager Mirko Skoko and what seemed like the whole of Chur in the hotel arena.

It was a tantalising spectacle and the sell out crowd was gifted with a truelly memorable night.

Passanante’s record will show an impressive 23-2-1 while Issaka moves to 17-12-0.

Mullins Of Europe
17/04/11

KADAVU native Mosese Sorovi arrives home for a timely break next week.

The new champion of World Boxing Foundation (WBF) international and Universal Boxing Council (UBC) cruiserweight titles has confirmed that he wants to defend the titles in Suva.

“The titles I’ve won are for the people of Fiji,” said the Sydney-based truck driver, who defeated Peter Brennan with a third round knockout last Saturday.

“Peter didn’t give up the titles easily. I really had to punish him.”

Getting into the ring for just the third time in 11 years, the former Australian cruiserweight championship thanked God for the chance to fight Brennan.

“I was blessed to get a chance like this. I learnt a lot of things when I didn’t get any fights. I used my lay-off to prepare my mind and body properly.”

Sorovi, who turns 42 in August, said he wanted to defend the titles either in June or July.

“Lepani Wilson is my trainer and manager. He will be organising everything about the fights.

“I was in Fiji last October but did not get a chance to visit Kadavu. I’m looking forward to going to Kadavu,” he said

Fiji’s middleweight champion Joy ‘The Ali’, who has never lost to a local opponent in his colourful career, yesterday welcomed Sorovi’s decision to fight in Fiji.

“It will be great for Fiji boxing that a top boxer like Sorovi is coming to fight in Fiji,” Ali said.

“I know him personally and he’s a really nice guy. Sorovi and his trainer Lepani Wilson really helped me a lot when I was in Australia to fight King Davidson last year.”

Ali said Sorovi would have been a world champion long ago, but he did not get fights in Australia.

“At one stage everybody in Australia started dodging him because of his record and power punches,” Ali said.

Amit Raj
Wednesday, April 06, 2011

This historic bout in the World Boxing Foundation’s history will be held at the Hotel Marsoel in the beautiful historic town of Chur on the 16th April 2011.

Local hero and WPBO champion Francesco Passanante of Chur, Switzerland who boasts an impressive record of 22-2-1 will take on Flash Issaka of Ghana who is the current ABU Super-Middleweight champion and whose record reads 17-11-0.

The Stjepan Herzeg (Boxklub) promotion is expected to be a guaranteed sell-out and Passanante’s manager Mirko Skoko is confident that his man can win the coveted WBF title for Chur and that the many fans of the local favourite will be celebrating in the streets of Chur at the end of the night.

Of course, there is still a contest to be won however and Flash Issaka will have no desire to leave Switzerland empty handed. He has proved to be a tricky customer in the past and will be looking to take the title back to Ghana.

WPBO Champion Francesco Passanante

FIJI boxer Mosese Sorovi won the World Boxing Foundation (WBF) Intercontinental and Universal Boxing Council (UBC) cruiserweight titles at Kalgoorlie in Western Sydney, Australia.

The 40-year-old stripped champion Peter Brennan titles via a third round technical knockout (TKO) at the Goldfields Oasis Recreation Centre on Saturday night.

Sorovi put his opponent twice on canvas in the opening two rounds before unleashing his killer punch straight on Brennan’s forehead, sending him down in a minute and 32 seconds in the third round.

Trainer and former boxing administrator Lepani Wilson told Times Sport that they will be staging the first-ever world title fight in Fiji.

However, he has asked for a change in the Boxing Commission of Fiji (BCF) board before his scheduled July program ù which will see Sorovi defend his title against an undecided overseas opponent.

“We did a lot of anticipation and mind preparation before the fight and we were confident from the very beginning about the win,” Wilson said.

“As I promised before the fight, I’m bringing the world title to Fiji in July but before that the BCF members should go.

“The Government set up this board to help boxing reach greater heights but it’s a pity for me to see boxing taking a nosedive.” Wilson said he was unhappy with some decisions made in Lale’s Boxing Promotion held over the weekend in Nadi.

“They need to get the right people who fairly work in the interest of developing boxing in Fiji. I want to see a new set of people in the commission when I bring the title fight to Fiji,” he said.

“The hosting of this world title fight in Fiji will be a big boost for the economy of the country and it will ultimately raise the profile of the sport in the country. I want people who really care for the development of the sport to facilitate this title fight.”

BCF chairman Sakaraia Tuva said Wilson would never come to Fiji due to personal reasons.

“How can he comment on the fight (Lale’s Promotion) when he was not even there. It is this kind of people who bring disgrace to the sport with their negative comments.

“He has never even given a pair of gloves or training equipment to any boxing club in Fiji though he had the opportunity to do so from Australia.

“For the last one year I have been putting all my efforts to help raise the profile of the sport and there are very few who come up to me to say thank you.”

Rashneel Kumar
Monday, April 04, 2011