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Probellum was in the boxing stronghold of Liverpool tonight with a card weighted heavily toward local fighters. The main event was to feature John Riel Casimero defending his WBO world bantamweight title against local fan favorite Paul Butler, but Casimero violated a British Boxing Board of Control rule that prohibited using a sauna to cut weight in close-proximity to a fight and Butler found himself matched against Jonas Sultan who was on standby in the event that the undependable Casimero screwed up again. (Casimero vs. Butler was originally slated for December in Dubai, but Casimero pulled out on the day of the weigh-in with the excuse that he had a stomach virus.)
Jonas Sultan was coming off a narrow but unanimous decision over previously undefeated Carlos Caraballo in a wild skirmish at Madison Square Garden this past October. The 31-year-old Filipino brought less heat to this affair which went the full 12 with Butler improving his record to 34-2 (15) by virtue of winning a unanimous decision. The judges had it 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112 in a bout sanctioned by the WBO as an interim title fight.
Butler, who was making his 11th start in this building where he made his pro debut, fought a tactical fight, letting Sultan set the pace and picking him off with counters. Sultan suffered his sixth defeat in 24 bouts.
Co-Feature
Alejandro Meneses became the latest unheralded Mexican fighter to score an upset in a British ring when he scored a ninth-round stoppage of heavily-favored and previously undefeated Sam Maxwell. In the process, Meneses (19-5, 9 KOs) won a fringe 140-pound title.
Meneses drew blood from Maxwell’s nose in the opening round and floored him with a right hand in the fourth. Maxwell, now 16-1, rallied in the middle rounds but couldn’t sustain the momentum. Meneses put him down again in the ninth and was battering him against the ropes when the referee waived it off. The official time was 2:39.
Other Bouts
In a featherweight contest slated for 10, Liverpool southpaw James “Jazza” Dickens, a two-time world title challenger and the last man to defeat reigning WBA world featherweight champion Leigh Wood, rebounded from a harsh defeat to Kid Galahad with a fifth-round stoppage of 36-year-old Spaniard Andori Gago, a former European featherweight title-holder.
Dickens (31-4, 12 KOs) dropped Gago in the third with an assist from a head butt and knocked him flat on his back two rounds later with a perfectly-timed left uppercut. Gago appeared to beat the count but was in no condition to continue and the bout was waived off. Gago’s record falls to 25-5-4.
Also, Rocky Fielding, a former WBA 168-pound world titlist (which made him fodder for Canelo Alvarez) scored a third-round stoppage of Timo Laine in a light heavyweight contest slated for eight. Fielding, a Liverpool native who has been hanging his hat in Dubai, improved to 30-2 (18). Laine, a 37-year-old Finn, declined to 30-18.