07.12.03 – By Tony Nobbs: World rated Australians Shannan Taylor, Lovemore Ndou and Sam Soliman all scored decisive victories in IBF Pan Pacific title fights at the Panthers Leagues Club in Sydney on Friday night. Promoters were Tony Caradonna and Glenn Wheatley. In the main event of a six fight card, Shannan Taylor (36-3-3) captured the jnr middleweight belt from Team Fenech’s Ian Mcleod (20-11-1) who accepted the fight on Wednesday night. The unprepared Mcleod did a good job giving the fans five rounds of action. The rejuvenated Taylor hurt Mcleod in the opening seconds with a solid left hook and dominated the fight although being tagged himself on a few occasions. As the fight developed Shannan became somewhat frustrated by Ian’s spoiling tactics and in round five Mcleod had a point deducted for low blows. Towards the end of the round Taylor hurt him Mcleod with another left hook. It was obvious Mcleod was not going to withstand much more and his corner signalled the end between rounds. Shannan told me a few weeks ago of his desire to challenge Mcleod for his belt in February, in order to be eligible to fight IBF champion Winky Wright. He got his chance early after Argentine opponent Sergio Finetto was knocked back. Ian flew to Sydney from his farm in North Queensland on Thursday morning.
After the fight Taylor said “I want to thank Ian Mcleod for taking this fight on short notice. I love him like a brother, we are good mates but inside the ring it’s business. Do you know how hard it is to hit a brother? He is a real warrior and deserves a rematch but I am after Winky Wright”. This was 31 year old Taylor’s fourth victory under trainer Frankie John Gatt. WBA #11 Taylor also holds the PABA and WBA Fedelatin belts.
In a terrific fight, IBF # 11jnr welter Lovemore Ndou took his record to 36-5-1 with an impressive fifth round knockout of Argentina’s three time world title challenger Carlos Rios (52-10-3).
Roy Alexander trained Ndou had to fight hard in the early rounds as Rios used an aggressive attack to the body. Ndou had success with left hooks against the ropes before wearing down his smaller opponent. A perfectly timed left to the body hurt Rios who double over after a follow up attack. After the fight the Sth African born Ndou drew jeers from the bleachers when he once again called out Kostya Tszyu.
IBF # 9 Sam Soliman (21-7-4) scored his first inside the distance win since winning the Commonwealth title from Neville Brown in 2000 by knocking out Argentine Silvio Rojas (41-35-8) in round four. Body shots did he damage. The podgy Rojas spent as much time clowning as he did fighting.
In a fourth IBF Pan Pacific title bout, lt. heavy champion Jason Delisle ( 13-2-2) defeated the improving Jamie ‘Tough’ Guy (5-5-1). A severe cut to Guy’s left eye, opened up in round four by a right hand forced doctor Alex Lewis to stop what was an even and quality fight. Both men landed solidly through out and the result looked to be 50/50 at the end. Delisle was cut by a right in round two. Delisle’s trainer Dino Billinghurst later told Eastside Jasons performance was one of his best to date.
In a scheduled eight rounder between 2000 Olympians who are former Australian professional champions, Queenslander Michael ‘Rocky’ Katsidis (8-0) scored his most notable win to date by stopping a fading Fred Kinuthia (8-5) in he fifth. A hard paced fight, both landing clean, the busier and stronger Katsidis winning each of the four rounds. Kinuthia looked to working his way back in to the bout before a right hand hurt him. The follow up left the Kenyan rep staggering to the canvas. When things continued, Kinuthia was under attack and not firing back. RSC. In Fred’s last outing he extended Lovemore Ndou twelve rounds on October 31. Before that fight, he was beaten in two by Junior Whitter. This was Katsidis’ third win since being released after eight months in prison mid year for an assault.
In the opener, local super middleweight Brett Culey (7-2-1) stopped Victorian veteran Dale Westerman (7-3) in round six.