At the world championship Aiba the blue eliminated in the quarters with a questionable verdict
BELGRADE. A decidedly incoherent verdict compared to what was seen in the ring interrupts Federico Serra’s run for a place on the podium at the Aiba World Boxing Championships. At the Stark Arena in Belgrade, the boxer from Ossi, wearing the Italian national team jersey, is beaten in the quarter-final of the 51 kg category by the American Roscoe Hill. The non-unanimous verdict (4-1 in favor of the American, with four 30-27 and a 29-28) is rather baffled, especially as regards the cards of the first two rounds: exactly 48 hours after the clear victory obtained over Ronaldo da Silva, the boxer of Domenico Mura’s team immediately tried to undermine his opponent’s wait-and-see tactic, finding himself at the end of the first round with only one judge out of five to reward him. Even more difficult to digest the response of the second round, in which Federico Serra, constantly in the center of the square, was even more aggressive and put Hill, a boxer with long levers and good mobility, in difficulty several times. Even in this case, however, four 10-9s arrived in favor of the American. In the third and final round, Serra tried to play it all out, without risking anything, finally finding a favorable verdict from the judges. At that point, however, it was impossible to overturn the verdict gained in the first two rounds and Serra found himself having to deal with a defeat and an elimination that leave a bad taste in the mouth. Thus the run-up to the podium of the Serbian capital fades, which would have also guaranteed an important cash prize. For him, however, the satisfaction of having come out with a very high head from an event of great prestige. (a.si.)