By Chris Williamson
SSE Arena, Belfast, Ireland - WBO bantamweight champion Zolani Tete (27-3, 21 KOs) dominated mandatory challenger and former world champion Omar Narvaez (48-3-2, 25 KOs) over twelve rounds for a unanimous decision win. All three judges scored it 120-108.
Back in 2014, Narvaez was demolished in two rounds by Naoya Inoue at super flyweight.
To get the mandatory position, Narvaez won five fights in a row including an upset seventh round stoppage over undefeated Nikolai Potapov in a final eliminator.
Tete is coming off a record setting 11 second knockout victory over Siboniso Gonya from November 2017.
It was far from the furious knockout that everyone saw in Tete's last fight. Tete took his time, was not exactly aggressive and just easily outboxed Narvaez round after round.
Narvaez barely did much of anything and was playing it safe and staying away from any danger, as Tete just outboxed him with ease.
The rumour at ringside is that rival, WBA champion Ryan Burnett, has signed up for the next season of the World Boxing Super Series IWBSS) while Tete has not. If that turns out to be the case then one hopes something very significant is lined up in it’s place to regain ‘Last Born’s’ temporarily stilted career momentum.
Also on the card, Irishman David Oliver Joyce stopped brave young journeyman Jordan Ellison on his feet at one minute 43 seconds of the sixth of a lightweight eight rounder. Oliver is now 7-0.
Dublin middleweight Luke Keeler (now 14-2-1) won the vacant WBO European title with a convincing ten round decision win over Northern Ireland's Conrad Cummings.
It was an emotionally charged contest from the opener as the two jostled for early advantages. Keeler immediately landed the better, more powerful jab, mixed with some lovely lefts to the body. A double left hook hurt Cummings early on and a right hand wobbled him, as Keeler’s body language grew noticeably in confidence. The judges scored it unanimously for Keller with scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 99-91.