Welshman dominates Frenchman in his hometown
Gavin Rees produced a fantastic performance in Anthony Mezaache’s backyard in France, forcing a seventh round stoppage to retain his European lightweight title in style.
The Welshman traveled over to Paris for his second defence in the venue that former champion Mezaache’s last three fights had been in and was the aggressor from the opening bell.
The 31 year old produced a classy, powerful and controlled display to dismiss the Frenchman’s challenge and move a step closer to his dream of becoming a two-weight World champion.
“I keep telling people I can punch at lightweight and giving the chance I think I can win another World title,” said Rees.
“I had a great training camp, it was boiling in here tonight but I still felt fresh. I worked well on the jab and I was catching him with the right often and I think I did a great job tonight.”
Rees connected early with his right hand and mixed his work up well, controlling things with his jab. A clash of heads in the second round caused a nasty gash to the Frenchman’s forehead and threatened to bring the fight to a premature end, but thankfully Mezaache’s corner stemmed the flow of blood and the fight continued, and Rees moved through the gears seamlessly.
The champion really put his foot down in the sixth round, rocking the hometown favourite at will and relentlessly pouring the pressure on with unerring accuracy.
Some great work to the body led to another big right hand in the opening half of the seventh round that floored the Frenchman and with so much time left in the round, Rees saw his chance to end things and pounced brilliantly. Again, the jackhammer right landed to rock Mezaache and he pinned him on the ropes with some stinging blows, and a combination of Mezaache’s corner and the referee ended the contest with 45 seconds of the seventh round left.