Leonard Bundu: record, next fight and profile →
Italian promoter OPI 2000 will promote an interesting doubleheader April 12 with the site to be announced. EBU welterweight champ Leonard Bundu (30-0-2) will defend the title against 43-year old veteran Gianluca Branco (48-3-1). In the co-feature Valery Yanchy (22-3-2) again squares off against Andrea Sarritzu (34-6-5) in a fight that was first set for March 23.
ExCel Arena, Dockland, London - Leonard Bundu (30-0-2, 11KOs) retained his EBU welterweight title with a twelfth round TKO of Lee Purdy (20-5-1, 13KOs), who suffers his second straight TKO defeat. Purdy started well and did good work in the first half of the fight, but he noticeably began to fade as the rounds played out and the champion started letting his hands go with hard combinations, while using movements to avoid Purdy's counters. In the end, Bundu dropped an exhausted Purdy and then followed up with a barrage of punches to force the intervention of the referee.
Lee Purdy will be looking to prove a point when he takes on European welterweight champion Leonard Bundu on Saturday night. The Essex banger has his first since losing to Devon Alexander earlier this year, when he filled in at late notice following an injury to Kell Brook. Purdy was unable to make the weight, thus spurning a chance to fight for Alexander's IBF title, but he has learned from that experience and a new training regime has left the 26-year-old feeling better than ever.
Everything was set for EBU welterweight champ Leonard Bundu (29-0-2, 10KOs) to take on Gianluca Branco on December 21, but now all of the parties involved have agreed on letting Bundu make a voluntary defence of the title on December 14 in London against Lee Purdy (20-4-1, 13KOs). The winner of Bundu vs Purdy have agreed on fighting Branco next.
Rafal Jackiewicz (42-11-2, 21 KOs) suffered yet another setback, as he was knocked out in the eleventh round by EBU welterweight champion Leonard Bundu (29-0-2, 10KOs). Jackiewicz was the European champion back in 2008/09 and looked to regain the crown before a hostile crowd at the Tendastrisce in Rome, Italy. It was a tough fight, but Bundu had the edge. The end came in the eleventh after Bundy landed a crippling left hook to the liver and Jackiewicz went down and was unable to recover.