By Alexey Sukachev

Hala Luczniczka in Bydgoszcz, Poland - WBC cruiserweight champion Krzysztof “Diablo” Wlodarczyk (45-2, 32 KOs) won a twelve round split decision over mandatory challenger challenger and previously undefeated Francisco “Wizard” Palacios (20-1, 13 KOs) of Puerto Rico. The scores were 116-113 for Wlodarczyk, 115-113 for Palacios, and 118-112 for Wlodarczyk. The fight was a calculated boxing match with many close rounds.

The ending was horrible and the fight itself was very disappointing. Both fighters didn't let their hands go, didn't battle even in short spurts and barely threw any punches at all throughout twelve rounds of boredom. Wlodarczyk played the role of aggressor slowly walking after Palacios with a cautious jab to Palacios' aura rather than to his head. The Boricua danced on his toes, circled around corners and often switched from southpaw to orthodox and back to southpaw. He didn't fire any punches of real significance as well mostly just touching the Pole's defense with soft jabs. There were little to no exchanges during the fight and only a handful of punches were power punches.

However, despite a very tedious way the fight went, Palacios looked better by often fooling his slow and unfocused opponent, easily avoiding any real punishment, and connecting with his jab to some extent. He was also the boss in terms of fight strategy and tactics and clearly deserved a nod with a good margin. He wasn't allowed to do so.

One of the judges saw the fight 115-113 - for Palacios (which is closer to what the fight really was) but he was overruled by Robin Dolpierre of France, who scored the fight an astonishing 116-112 - for Wlodarczyk and by Adrio Zannoni of Italy, whose decision (118-112 - for the defending champion) should be investigated. BoxingScene saw it 116-112 - for the Puerto-Rican fighter. A majority of local fans booed both fighters after the final bell. Referee was Luigi Muratore.

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WBC #12 and IBF #15 cruiserweight prospect Lukasz Janik (22-1, 13 KOs), 25, acquired a vacant WBC Baltic Silver cruiserweight title (for whatever it means) with making short work of previously unstoppable Italian Christian Dolzanelli (16-3-1, 10 KOs). Dolzanelli was annihilated with a hard right hand in round two of a scheduled twelve.

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One of two top Polish light middleweight prospects, Damian Jonak (29-0-1, 19 KOs), had no problems with rugged Estonian trialhorse Albert Starikov (15-15-1, 6 KOs). WBC #11 Jonak put his opponent down once in the second and once in the fifth round and cruised to an easy eight-round unanimous decision. Starikov was a late substitute for another Pole Daniel Urbanski.

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Polish cruiserweight Krzysztof Glowacki is now 12-0, with 7 KOs, following a knockout victory over out-of-shape Georgian Levan Jomardashvili (21-4, 16 KOs). Glowacki was better in every department and put his soft and bulky opponent down twice in the third after hard right hand to the spleen and another left hook to the jaw. The Georgian retired in his corner during a break between rounds three and four citing a hand injury.

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WBC #6 cruiserweight Tomasz Hutkowski (20-0-2, 13 KOs) easily vaporized Nicaraguan veteran Henry Saenz (22-8-1, 18 KOs) in two rounds. Hutkowski took some time to feel out the Nicaraguan's defensive weaknesses in the first and punched him into submission with a barrage of punches in the second (Saenz's corner threw in a towel). The Latino boxer was fighting for the first time in more than two years.

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Poland-based Nigerian cruiserweight prospect Izuagbe Ugonoh moved up to 3-0, with 2 KOs, after a convincing four-round unanimous decision over Rashid Raad (1-2,1 KO). Raad was down in the third round.

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Polish welterweight prospect Lukasz Maciec (13-1-1, 2 KOs) scored a workmanlike six-round unanimous decision over Czech veteran Bronislav Kubin (10-6-1, 5 KOs). There were no knockdowns in this fight, and the contest was mostly in Pole's favour.

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