Karriss Artingstall (6-0, 1 KO) outpointed Lila dos Santos Furtado (9-2, 1 KO) over eight rounds in a back and forth featherweight fight.
Furtado went the distance with unbeaten Raven Chapman last August and after a tough start, she also gave Artingstall a good test too.
Artingstall stalked the much smaller Furtado, extending her hands to keep the Brazilian at bay. Furtado was the more active fighter but struggled with the range. It was a controlled opener from Artingstall and as the the bell rang, shel sensed a Furtado attack, took a tiny step back to make her fall short again and dropped her heavily with a razor sharp southpaw left hand.
Furtado rebounded well, she looked to be in desperate trouble as the first ended but she boxed safely through the second round as Artingstall chose not to press home her advantage and maybe shaded the third round on sheer workrate although she did absorb another solid straight left.
Furtado realized that attack was her best form of defense and that by pushing Artingstall back, she was taking away the taller fighter’s leverages. After coasting through the first two rounds, Artingstall seemed a bit uncomfortable with the pressure and her punch output dropped dramatically.
Instead of looking to reestablish some distance between the two, Artingstall decided to fight fire with fire in the fifth and the two traded, Artingstall probably shaded the round by landing some cleaner punches but fighting at close range, she was giving away her advantages and power.
Artingstall corrected that in the sixth, getting off first with straight punches and keeping Furtado at arms length and after a quick start to the round, Furtado - blood pouring from her nose - struggled to get her own work off.
Aware that she would probably need something special to get any kind of result, Furtado forced the pace throughout the final round of an entertaining scrap but came up just short.
Scoring referee John Latham scored the eight rounder 77-75 for Artingstall who remains undefeated.