In a close fight, Mary Spencer beat Germany’s Naomi Mannes by unanimous decision to claim the World Boxing Association (WBA) interim super welterweight title on Thursday.
The three judges gathered around the ring at the Cabaret du Casino de Montréal gave the score 96-93 in favour of Spencer (9-2, 6 KOs).
It’s a fall to the mat at 10e and Mannes’ last round which made the difference in this fight, during which Mannes (7-4-1, 4 KOs) gave the new champion a hard time.
“While waiting for the scores, I never know how the fight is going to be judged. In the ring, I tend to magnify everything: if I get hit twice, it feels like I got hit 20 times,” Spencer explained. “I knew the power shots were mine. Even if they didn’t look that solid, I knew that with a couple of good left hooks in particular, I had hit the target. The judges are trained to see those shots, so I was counting on their professionalism.”
“She hit me a lot, not very powerful shots, but some judges give as much value to those shots as to the power shots,” she added. “You never know. I knew it was close. I was hoping they saw the more powerful shots.”
The third time was the charm for Spencer, who had lost her first two chances at a world title to Belgian Femke Hermans.
“It’s good to walk away with the belt this time,” said Spencer, who is also ranked third in the International Boxing Federation (IBF), fourth in the World Boxing Organization and fifth in the World Boxing Council. “She has a similar style to Femke, I saw that from the first films I saw. I expected her to go southpaw, but not for the whole 10 rounds. It surprised me, but it was brilliant on her part.”
Spencer now hopes to get the opportunity to fight for the regular title against champion Terry Harper.
“It would be much better if it was the regular title. We’ll see what Terry does. It would be quite a fight between Terry and me. When I fight a girl who moves or a left-handed girl, it doesn’t make for interesting fights, neither for the spectators nor for me.”
Cannon start
True to form, Spencer opened the fight by going on the attack. In the first two rounds, she controlled the ring and threw the best punches, all of which were landed by Mannes, ranked fourth in the WBA and sixth in the IBF.
But the German gradually regained the upper hand, while Spencer, as seen in her first fight against Hermans, seemed out of breath at times. Mannes took advantage of this to get closer to the score. Her punches did not seem violent, but she landed regularly.
The judges, however, appreciated Spencer’s power better and when the German found herself on one knee on the mat in the 10thea fall that was nonetheless controversial, his fate was sealed.
Three belts
Two other belts were at stake in this gala, both from the North American Boxing Federation.
Imam Khataev (8-0, 8 KOs) first defended his light heavyweight title by referee stoppage after 45 seconds of the seventh round against Ezequiel Maderna (31-13, 21 KOs).
Then, in the final, super lightweight Arthur Biyarslanov (16-0, 14 KOs) also defended his title. He completely outclassed Hungarian Tamas Kiliti (10-1, 6 KOs), sending him to the canvas four times, including the last at 1:38 of the third round.
Effective Guerrero
Montreal welterweight Christopher Guerrero (12-0, 7 KOs) was methodical against American Courtney Pennington (17-9-3, 7 KOs), whom he finally defeated by referee stoppage in the fourth round.
Guerrero opened the machine at the end of the third, landing the Brooklyn boxer solidly for the first time, who found himself in difficulty, but was saved by the bell. In the fourth, Guerrero found the same weaknesses. At 1:56, Pennington could not take it anymore. When he found himself on the canvas a third time, referee Yvon Goulet signaled that the fight was over.
Mathieu, again
Wilkens Mathieu (11-0, 7 KOs) faced off against Argentinian veteran Rolando Mansilla (19-16-1, 9 KOs) in a fight presented in the light heavyweight category. The Quebec boxer worked his opponent well, who took much more than he gave.
Mansilla finally visited the canvas twice in the fourth round, following powerful salvos to the body of Mathieu. Goulet stopped the hostilities after the second fall, at 1:41 of the engagement for a technical KO.
This is a second victory in less than three weeks for Mathieu, who defeated Facundo Nicolas Galovar by unanimous decision on the Mbilli-Derevyanchenko card on August 17.
In a two-part fight, Avery Martin Duval (12-0-1, 7 KOs) scored a unanimous decision victory over Argentina’s Jesus Daneff (13-12-4, 4 KOs). The Montreal lightweight won 79-73, 80-72 and 80-71.
Martin Duval’s start to the fight did not suggest a one-sided victory, however. He was hit regularly and sometimes solidly in the first half of the fight, before taking control of the fight from the fifth.
Earlier in the evening, Moreno Fendero (7-0, 5 KOs) knocked out Carlos Ronner (7-5, 2 KOs) with a powerful left that came without warning at the start of the third round. Referee Steve St-Germain immediately stopped the fight and the boxer from Mar Del Plata, Argentina, remained lying on the ground in his corner for several minutes.
Paramedics put a neck brace on the boxer, who had regained consciousness, before taking him out on a stretcher. Ronner chatted with his entourage before being carried out of the ring. He was taken to a Montreal hospital. More fear than harm, however: he was released before the gala ended.
Jhon Orobio (11-0, 10 KOs) also quickly won against Mar Del Plata super lightweight Joel Manriquez (6-6), whom he stopped at 2:54 of the second round. Manriquez’s corner deemed his two falls to the canvas in that round to be enough.