Lukasz Rozanski halted Alen Babic in punishing fashion and becoming the second-ever WBC bridgerweight world champion in Rzeszow, Poland, in a very one-sided contest on Saturday night (April 22)
Rozanski would have Babic on the canvas in the opening ninety seconds following a left hook which visibly hurt the British-based- Croat fighter before being put over with a right hand sending the partisan Polish crowd into ecstasy.
Babic rose to his feet but was overwhelmed by his Polish opponent. After a further-forty seconds, referee Jose Guadalupe Garcia waved off the contest to save Babic to allow him to fight for another day.
Rozanski improves his record to fifteen-straight wins as a professional, with fourteen coming inside the distance. In a staggering fact first mentioned by British journalist Declan Taylor, Rozanski has only boxed twenty-six rounds as a professional to capture the newly created WBC bridgerweight world title.
The bridgerweight division was created by the WBC to serve as an in-between weight for the cruiserweight and heavyweight weight classes. The maiden WBC champion of this division was Oscar Rivas, which Rivas won in October 2021. However, Rivas has been forced to step back from the sport due to an eye injury.
The official time of the stoppage was 2:10 of the opening round of a scheduled twelve. Babic, in defeat, drops to his maiden defeat and now holds a record of fifteen wins against one loss with ten wins coming inside the scheduled distance.
