By Chris LaBate
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales - Former WBA junior welterweight Gavin Rees (35-1, 16KOs) won a twelve round unanimous decision over previously undefeated Andy Murray (24-1, 12KOs) to capture the vacant EBU lightweight title. The scores were 115-112, 115-112 and 116-112.
It was an interesting fight. Rees had few issues in outboxing the less experienced Murray for the better of the first eight rounds. But in the ninth round, Rees began to lose steam and his legs were very tired. He began to hold on to kill the clock and the referee penalized him for excessive holding. Rees used his experience, holding and short bursts of punches to survive the remaining rounds. He was also lucky that Murray doesn't have the power to score a late knockout.
