Legacy Sports Management made their return to the boxing scene last night with a display of championship boxing at the Rudolf Weber-Arena, in Oberhausen, Germany.
The main event saw the two undefeated super welterweights, French European champion Milan Prat (20-0, 16 KOs) and local German hero Slawa Spomer (18-0, 9 KOs) put their WBO Global and WBA Intercontinental titles on the line over 12 rounds.
Action was seen from the first bell, as both fighters quickly tested each other’s will with fast combinations. Spomer was tipping the fight in his favour by responding to any offence from the Frenchman in the early rounds and landing successively on his opponent. Prat made attempts to keep the German at bay with jabs, but it was evident the younger man was being outworked. As Spomer broke the guard of his opponent with uppercuts as he crept forward, a look of panic was evident on the face of Prat as he was taken to deep waters early in this championship fight.
With 10 seconds to go in the 4th round, Spomer was backed into a corner and threw a counter left hook that sent Prat stumbling to the canvas. Prat got onto his knees and spat his gum shield out during his 10-count to buy himself some recovery time from the flash knockdown, and was then saved by the bell.
The German electrified the Rudolf-Weber Arena once again in Round 5, enjoying himself as he bulldozed his opponent to the floor a second time with a barrage of punches. Prat spitting his gum shield out once again in a desperate attempt to stay in the fight, his second time without consequences from the referee.
Formerly tested Spomer, had previously been in 10 round battles, and used the experience to continue pushing his French rival to the limit. A thunderous right hand in the 9th from Spomer sent Prat to the floor for a third time and with no surprise, Prat was allowed to spit out his gum shield for a few seconds extra to breathe.
21 seconds remaining in the 10th round, a double left hook catches the Frenchman clean on the chin as he gets uncontrollably sent for a final time to the floor, and the referee finally stops the contest while Prat struggled to find his balance. Spomer had prevailed as an underdog against a very worthy opponent, putting him in prime position for a world level fight.
Earlier on the televised card, former world champion Austin ‘No Doubt’ Trout (36-5-1 18 KOs) made his 2023 debut against Panamanian Omar Rodriguez (13-9-1 6 KOs) in another super welterweight showdown over 8 rounds. From the first bell in this technical contest, Trout used his experience to control the fight from a distance.
Rodriguez then pressured and had more success hitting the head and the body. During this time Trout seemed more stationary as he was not moving his back leg with as much ease, allowing the Panamanian to steal a couple rounds on the scorecards. During the later rounds, Trout boosted his work rate and once again regained control of the fight, pulling away with the unanimous decision victory on the scorecards.
Cuban cruiserweight and world title challenger ‘The Rebel’ Mike Perez (28-3, 19 KOs) explosively kicked off the card, wasting no time with a 1st round knockout victory, adding veteran Rashad Karimov (36-3, 32 KOs) to the list of his victims. A powerful Perez sent Karimov to the canvas three times in the process before the referee waved off the contest, with over a minute left in the first round. Proving himself as a known threat in the division to this day, the Cuban’s message to the division after the bout was as follows: “Anybody in the cruiserweight division, I am ready”.
Also featured on the card, the renowned MMA fighter Islam Dulatov made his professional boxing debut against Colombian Wilmer Baron (6-2, 5 KOs) at light heavyweight. With Baron having dominated the pace of the first two rounds, there was a surprising turn of events as the debutant Dulatov started putting the pressure on his opponent, putting together his punches and wearing down Baron. The dazed Colombian was deducted 2 points for holding, in his attempt to survive the 4 round contest. Dulatov moves to 1-0 with a win via unanimous decision.
