By Per Ake Persson
Gilleleje, Denmark - Sam Rukundo won the vacant UBO and ABU lightweight titles with a unanimous twelve-round decision over hometown hero Robert Osiobe in a hardfought, fight that headlined Robert Larsen´s show at Hjellerupsgaarden. Rukundo, stepping in on six-days notice for the ill Samuel Kebede, had been training but had problems making the weight so instead of having the fight at jr. lightweight it was changed to lightweight.
This sealed Osiobe´s fate as the bigger Rukundo, cut in the second, made a slow start but gradually took over and was well in controll behind his long reach, awkward southpaw stance and strength. Osiobe, at feather a dangerous counterpuncher, just couldn´t keep up with his stronger opponent and retreated. At the end it was scored 116-112 twice and 115-113.
The solid, well contested, fight saved the pro/am show for Larsen as female stars Anita Christensen and Vinni Skovgaard both had soft touch opponents. Christensen got a very late substitute in Mirabela Caluegeranau and won a disappointing third round TKO. Skovgaard, at jr. welterweight, walked through Galina Gulimskaya, a decent opponent at feather, stopping her in the third.
Finally, jr. lightweight Ervis Masha outscored Hungarian Istvan Nagy over six messy rounds.
