In Zakopane, Poland, 38-year-old veteran Mateusz Masternak dominated the fight and finally knocked out Belgian Joel Tambwe Djeko in the seventh and won the vacant EBU cruiserweight title.
It was the 50th win of Masternak’s career and came three fights after a losing effort for the WBO title, which was then held by Chris Billam-Smith.
The Pole is now 50-6 (33 KOs), and rated No. 4 by the IBF and No. 7 with both the WBC and WBO.
Djeko came in as a sub for German Artur Mann, who in turn was a sub for Leonard Mosquea, who had to relinquish the title due to serious illness.
The 36-year-old Djeko is now 19-4-1 (9 KOs).
On the undercard, veteran London, England, cruiserweight Tony Salam dropped to 19-6 (14 KOs) after he was stopped in two rounds by 11-0 (8 KOs) Michal Soczynski, a 27-year-old contender from Poland and Kamil Szeremeta, having his first outing since a loss in Saudi Arabia to Chris Eubank Jnr last year, improved to 26-3-2 (9 KOs) with victory over Boris Nedbal, who is 6-3 (6 KOs).
