Australian Boxing: Caparello stops McKay in Eighth Round

By Srithar Visuasam: Last Friday night, Blake Caparello (5-0, 2 KOs) stopped an extremely tough Kane McKay (8-9-2, 4 KOs) in the eighth round to claim the WBF Australasian Cruiserweight Title and Bob Rose Cup at the Malvern Town Hall, Victoria, Australia.

The bout scheduled for 10 rounds, was controlled by Caparello whose busy work rate saw him find his mark on McKay with regularity. McKay, who always keeps coming forward, was never shy of an exchange with Caparello and seemed to have a complete lack of respect of his power..

In numerous rounds throughout the bout, McKay kept dropping his guard, sticking his chin out and calling out Caparello to hit him with his best shot. Instead of the usual move away and counterpunch, McKay allowed Caparello to hit him flush on these occasions, continually shaking his head with Caparello’s efforts after such opportunities.

Despite being comfortably behind on the scorecards, McKay continued to bring the fight and in the later rounds of the fight, still had a realistic chance of a victory. The eighth round was one of McKay’s most productive and seemed to be on his way to securing that round on the judge’s scorecards, before he decided to stick out his chin one too many times which saw a two punch combination by Caparello rock McKay’s neck back heavily.

Referee Malcolm Bulner immediately called an end to the contest 2 minutes 55 seconds into the round, though with McKay still on his feet but not in a position to continue. The scorecards at the point of stoppage were 68-66, 68-66 and 69-64 in favour of Caparello. Caparello did look very impressive and will next fight unbeaten Australian light heavyweight champion Shane McConville (6-0-4, 1 KO) in August.

Jimmy James (8-2-1, 2 KOs) won an action packed bout over Robert Monitto (2-6, 1 KO) to take the Victoria State welterweight title. Steven Gillingham (5-3) defeated Aaron Ross (3-3, 1 KO) via points over eight rounds and debutant Callan Orchard (1-0) scored a majority points decision over Dane Campbell (2-1, 1 KO).

The remainder of the card saw three bouts with all six fighters making their professional debuts. Lynden Edney (1-0) looked impressive over Mahmad Ibrahim (0-1), winning on points, Steven King (0-0-1) and Karim Afghan (0-0-1) fought an entertaining four round draw, with Afghan unlucky not to get the decision and Marc Pante (1-0, 1 KO) stopped Matt Muir (0-1) in just 49 seconds.

Highlights and interviews of this event can be seen this Tuesday night at 10PM AEST on the KO Boxing program on Channel 31 in Victoria, Australia.