By Srithar Visuasam: The Elite Cranes Cup was held at the Malvern Town Hall on Friday November 20, hosted by Peter Maniatis Promotions. The main event saw Shannon ‘The Man’ McMahon (16-5-1, 6 KOs) take on Eddie ‘Psycho’ Delic (16-9-2, 3 KOs) for the vacant WBF Intercontinental light middleweight title over 10 rounds. The bout was an edge of your seat encounter with toe to toe action for the full ten rounds. McMahon was impressive with his multi-punch combinations, taking the fight to Delic. However, it was Delic who fought the superior fight. His counter punching was very effective with his counter right hand proving the key weapon over the course of the fight. The bout went the full distance and after a heated battle, it was Delic who prevailed with scorecards reading 97-93, 98-92, 98-92 all in his favour..
After the bout, it was announced that there will be a rematch between the two fighters which will be for the WBF light middleweight world title.
In the main supporting bout, Heath Ellis (11-1-1, 6 KOs) captured the interim WBC Asian Boxing Council welterweight title via a 12 round unanimous decision over Thailand’s Jakkirt Suwunnalirt (15-13-1, 6 KOs). Ellis dominated the fight throughout all stages knocking down Suwunnalirt in round 3. Suwunnalirt kept the pressure on Ellis throughout the bout and provided a strong test for the rising star from Melbourne. The scorecards read 120-107, 120-107 and 117-111 in favour of Ellis.
Nick Lantouris (10-8-4, 1 KO) and Joe D’Angelo (1-2-1) fought to a two round technical draw after an accidental head clash brought a halt to proceedings. The head clash saw a deep gash break open on D’Angelo’s forehead which saw referee Malcolm Bulner wave off the bout. The bout was for the Victoria State cruiserweight title.
In other bouts Stephen Gillingham (4-2) outworked Thai Komgrit Nanakorn (10-12, 4 KOs) over 6 rounds at light heavyweight. The scorecards read 60-54, 58-56 and 59-55 all in favour of Gillingham. In a battle of the debutants, Terry Tzouramanis (1-0, 1 KO) stopped Seb Harris (0-1) in round one at light welterweight and Dane Campbell (2-0, 1 KO) stopped Chris Waretini in the first round (0-2) of their cruiserweight battle.