Catalonia and Spain are in luck with a new European boxing champion. Tania Alvarez She defeated the Italian Maria Cecchi this Saturday night in Castellbisbal for the vacant continental super bantamweight title.
And so at only 22 years old and after two and a half as a professional in a meteoric career that also led her to fight at the Madison Theater in New York against one of the best boxers of today, the Australian and current world champion Skye Nicolson.
Together with their coach Toni Moreno, both had prepared the event perfectlygoing from less to more to take advantage of the downward line that a Maria Cecchi who abuses irregularities and who recently suffered a respiratory problem usually shows in her fights.
The condition of Cecchi’s left foot was about to cost the Catalan dearly in a blow that he received in the first seconds in a packed Casal Cultural. Little by little he gained distance and balanced the fight in the second with a flying right hand and two others with little distance.
Using his elbow in an irregular manner and going with his head like a buffalo in ‘Warrington plan’ as he usually does, Cecchi showed more activity, but Toni Moreno’s combat plan was clear: take advantage of the fact that the transalpine company is losing steam to decant the title.
The final stretch of the fourth round by Tania Álvarez was masterful, with a couple of combinations and a straight right while fatigue began to appear in the ‘Russian Hurricane’. The fight was almost balanced after another good fifth round from the Spaniard.
10 minutes until the European dream and the Catalan woman looked much more whole. The Italian threw the protector to the ground after receiving a hard blow while Toni Moreno’s disciple showed a distance control much better than New York day without forgetting the difference between the rivals, of course.
In the seventh the Italian had a bad time and was still on the verge of losing a point for entering with her head like a buffalo. She had a lot of face and Cecchi didn’t lose her dear despite the fatigue that made her throw herself onto the stool after the eighth.
His coach’s anger made him react Roman style with a bomb-proof character to keep the fight open with two minutes remaining, which was a real give and take with another headbutt included from the ‘visitor’.
For once, the scores did not hide surprises and the three judges evaluated what happened in the same way. Fair victory for the Catalan in a very even fight. They all scored the same: 96-94.