By Terence Dooley

Peterborough’s big hitting Cello Renda returned to action for the first time since his January 2010 decision defeat to Paul Samuels with a four-threes points win over Latvia’s Ruslans Pojonisevs (161lbs) at The Arena, Peterborough on Friday night.  Renda (165lbs) boxed to orders en route to a 40-36 score on referee Ken Curtis’ card in his first outing under Birmingham-based fight figure Jon Pegg.

Renda burst to prominence during a brutal war with Samuels in their first meeting.  The Ricky Hatton-promoted November 2009 battle featured a double knockdown, both men connecting with sweet left hooks at the same time to furnish the Sky TV cameras with a ‘What happened next?’ moment in a fight Samuels won via third-round TKO.

“If it wasn't for Jon [Pegg] then I wouldn't have been in there last night,” said Renda when speaking to Tom Podmore of Midlands Boxing.com about his return to action.  “I had a nightmare with my former manager [Ian Pauly] and I honestly thought about retiring.  But Jon kept me going, telling me that it would work itself out and that I’d have another chance at making a go.  I can't thank him enough for that.”

“Pojnoisevs was a tough customer but it was an easy night's work for me working behind the jab,” admitted Renda.  “People think all I can do is bang, but I didn't box amateur and my skills have taken time to arrive.  I'd like to fight [Nick] Blackwell for the English [middleweight] belt.  I’m out in Peterborough again on June 8 and we'll see what happens after that.”

Renda improves to 19-9-1 (11); Pojonisevs falls to 13-18-1 (10).

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