By Miguel Rivera

In what some felt was a controversial decision by referee Florentino Lopez, former world champion Cristian Mijares was able to pick up an eight round stoppage victory over Argentinean Fernando Saucedo, on Saturday night at the Oasis Arena in Cancun, Quintana Roo.

Lopez felt that the South American fighter was taking too much damage, so he decided to stop the fight. a

The ending of the contest provoked an angry complaint from Saucedo and his team, as they considered the outcome was very premature and they also felt that they had a good chance of winning the fight.

Mijares, who wants to get himself in position to win another world title down the line, was being tested in the lightweight contest with Saucedo.

During the eight round, Mijares landed a good hook that made Saucedo go back to the ropes and once he was there, Mijares threw himself in there with everything in search of hurting him. Although he failed to do so, he was able to impress the referee, who evidently jumped in to stop the contest.

Thanks to the controversial move, Mijares improved his record to 59-8-2 and 27 knockouts, while the enraged Saucedo got struck down 61-8-3 and 10 knockouts.

IN OTHER NEWS: THE BRITISH Lionhearts maintained their good run of form in this season’s World Series of Boxing (WSB) with a comprehensive 4-1 win over Italia Thunder last night (Friday 16 March) in Milan.

Wins for Will Cawley, Dzmitry Asanau, Joe Ward and Frazer Clarke, on his return from nine months out with injury, steered the Lionhearts to victory.

A defeat for Cyrus Pattinson, who was stopped in the third round by Mirko Natalizi, was the Lionheart’s sole reverse as they completed the season double over the Italians. 

Next-up the British team face the Croatian Knights before a mouthwatering showdown with the France Fighting Roosters in Newport on Friday 14 April 2018 to decide who finishes the regular season as winner of the European Group.