Cecilia Braekhus cruised to a dominant points victory over Victoria Bustos in a 10-round bout to retain her welterweight titles on the Radzhab Butaev-Alexander Besputin card at the Casino de Monte Carlo in Monte Carlo.
The scores were 99-91, 98-92 and 98-92, all for Braekhus.
The 38-year-old Braekhus (36-0, 9 knockouts) was never troubled as she blistered Bustos (19-6) with combinations all night. It was a lopsided fight with few entertaining moments, save for a knockdown that Braekhus scored in Round 6 with a stiff left hand counter.
It was the first fight for Braekhus since her hard-won fight over Aleksandra Lopes in December 2018.
Afterward, Braekhus noted she felt some rust in the early rounds.
“The third round I started to get my groove back,” Braekhus said. “The last rounds I wanted to try some stuff that we’ve been working out in the gym”
Promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed that he is looking to make a summer fight between lightweight titleholder Katie Taylor and Brakehus.
“It’s the biggest fight in boxing,” said Hearn. “Cecilia has broken down the doors in women’s boxing and she wants to make sure she can get the biggest fights in boxing and I think the Katie Taylor fight is the biggest fight in boxing.
“Those two are on a collisions course. In 2020 I think you will definitely see that fight.”
Also on the undercard, undefeated Welsh prospect Joe Cordina staved off the pressure attack of Enrique Tinoco, tactfully boxing his way to a clear unanimous decision victory in a 10-round junior lightweight bout.
The judges had it 98-92, 98-92, and 96-94 for Cordina.
It as a step-up bout of sorts for 27-year-old British Olympian, who was able to take some of Tinoco’s best shots as he worked diligently behind his jab.
This was Cordina’s first bout at 130 pounds since his professional debut. Cordina has campaigned at the 135-pound limit for most of his career.
Zhilei Zhang notched a dominant unanimous decision over Andriy Rudenko in a 10-round heavyweight bout.
Scores were 99-91, 98-92, and 97-93 for the Chinese heavyweight, who had not fought in over a year. Zhang was originally supposed to fight Sergey Kuzmin, but the Russian bowed out due to an injury sustained in training.
The Ukrainian Rudenko was outmatched from the start, as the southpaw Zhang (21-0, 16 KOs) consistently beat his foe to the punch. Zhang’s best weapon was the straight left, but also flashed a mean right hook. In Round 3, Zhang wobbled Rudenko and seemed to be on the verge of a stoppage.
Rudenko (32-5-, 20 KOs) made a bit of a comeback in Round 7, but it was temporary. Zhang closed out show with a slew of left hands that had Rudenko flailing around the ring late. Midway through Round 10, Zhang hurt Rudenko badly with a right hook, but Rudenko was able to hear the final bell.