Francesco Patera retained his European Lightweight Title with a comfortable enough points win over Domenico Valentino at the Allianz Cloud in Milan, Italy.
Patera (23-3) made the third successful defence of the vacant belt that he won so impressively against Lewis Ritson in October 2018.
In this Matchroom/OPI Since 82 promotion, Valentino tried his best to use his extensive amateur background to frustrate the Belgian, making Patera miss regularly and the Champion had to work hard for the success he had.
For all of the elusive work from Valentino, he couldn’t get a big enough foothold in the contest to threaten a win.
Valentino came into the contest with an 8-0 record, but, at 35 years of age, he had spent too much time in the unpaid code to seemingly be able to make a set in the professional ranks.
A final round knockdown put the seal on the result, as Patera kept hold of his belt by scores of 117-111 (twice) and 117-110.
The poster boy for the show in Milan was Daniele Scardina, and the home hope retained his IBF International Super Middleweight Title with a ten round points win against Ilias Achergui.
Two scores of 98-91, and a third at 97-92 were enough for Scardina to remain unbeaten at 18-0.
Wales’ Tony Dixon (12-3) came close to becoming the latest British fighter to cause an upset in Italy, but eventually dropped a ten round split decision to the unbeaten Maxim Prodan.
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Dixon received a 96-94 card from one judge, but was denied by the remaining judges, who saw the bout 98-92 and 97-93 to the home fighter, who moves to 18-0-1 as a result, and keeps hold of his IBF International Welterweight title with the win.
