By Per Ake Persson
Veteran light heavyweight Silvio Branco won the WBA interim title in Milano with a unanimous decision over Puerto Rican Manny Siaca. It was scored 119-109 on all cards. Branco may now face the "real" WBA champ Fabrice Tiozzo on November 18 but ... "We are more than willing to take the fight" says Cristian Cherchi of OPI 2000 who promoted the show, "but I can´t see how Tiozzo will be able to make light heavyweight anymore. I think this fight will be recognized as for the full title in the near future."
Flyweight Andrea Sarritzu was knocked down in the first round by EBU champ Ivan Pozo but outboxed his opponent from the second round onwards and won on a stoppage in the final round. Pozo collapsed after it had been stopped and was taken to a nearby hospital but is said to be doing fine.
EBU jr middleweight champ Michele Piccirillo was in a different league than Luca Messi in an all-Italian matchup and won on a eleventh round stoppage to retain the title.
Former WBC super middleweight king Cristian Sanavia outscored Frenchman Sylvain Gomis over six in a supporting bout.
The show drew about 4000 fans and was televised by Mediasat, partly on PPV with Branco vs Siaca going out on a free channel.
"It was a difficult show to make" says Cherchi, "and we are not sure of the financial outcome but from a sporting perpspective it was the biggest show we´ve made and we are very pleased with the results."
OPI 2000 now have the postponed EBU title fight between EBU champ Frederik Klose and Giovanni Parisi, set for October 8 in Milano.
