Copenhagen, Denmark – Danish Fight Night and promoter Bettina Palle opened 2024 with a well attended show at the Royal Arena streamed by Pluto TV.
Super welterweight Oliver Meng (12-0-1) retained the WBA Continental European title on a draw against Italian Felice Moncelli (24-8-2). It was scored 117-112 Meng, 114-114, and 115-113 for Moncelli.
It was hard fought all the way with Meng, a southpaw, off to a good start where he outboxed his opponent. However, it was if Moncelli got stronger and stronger as the fight progressed and he seemed to hurt the Dane with big, heavy hooks to the body. A cut by the right eye also seemed to bother Meng and it was as if Moncelly would win.
However, Meng salvaged a draw with a strong finish – and BoxingScene actually had it 115-113 for Meng after an early Fight of the Year candidate – at least over here.
With Sarah Mahfoud not allowed to fight by the WBC – with the purse bids for the fight against Skye Nicolson pending – Nigerian, based in the UK, Elizabeth Oshoba (7-0), stepped in and took apart brave but limited Italian Michele Braga (6-1) winning the vacant WBC Silver title in the process.
The tall and stylish Oshobe used her advantages in height and reach well and picked apart Braga, who was heavily floored in the eighth and was close to being stopped. Brage came back well but was hurt and floored again in the tenth and final round and referee Daniel Van De Wiele stopped the fight just as the towel came in.
Time of the stoppage was 0.40. It was scored 87-83, 88-82 and 90-80 after nine. Oshoba is a future star in female boxing.
There was a final ten count for Danish great Tom Bogs, who passed away just before Christmas at the age of 79.
It was made official that Dina Thorslund’s mandatory defense of the WBC bantamweight title against Seren Cetin will go ahead February 24 at the Royal Arena
Heavyweight Mathias Hansen (3-0) stopped Bosnian Dzeljan Elezovic (0-2) at 1.45 of the fifth round. Elezovic was down in the fourth and again in the fifth. He survived the count but was moments later so wobbly the fight was stopped. Hansen shows talent but seems to wait for the right moment a bit too much.
Cruiserweight Thorbjorn Boudigaard (2-1) stopped out of shape Hungarian Tamas Kozma (6-11-3) in the third of a scheduled four-rounder. Kozma was floored in the second and went down again in the third – and it was stopped 28 seconds into the round.
Flyweight Emma Jensen made her pro debut but it was a little too soon as she lost a split decision to the more experienced Serbian Snezana Silijkovic (5-17-3). Jensen was dropped in the first and lost on scores of 39-36 and 38-37 – with 38-37 for the Dane on the third card.
In the show opener cruiserweight Hamza Hussein (5-0) stopped Serbian Goran Sujevic (4-13-1) at 2:40 into the second round. Sujevic was floored twice in the first.