Marseille (AFP)
France's Michel Soro won the WBA "regular" World Super Welterweight title in Marseille on Saturday by beating compatriot Anderson Prestot in the fifth round.
This belt does not make Soro the N.1 of the WBA in its category since this federation also awards a title of "super champion", held by the American Julian Williams, also IBF champion. The WBC world super welterweight belt is owned by American Tony Harrison and the WBO is owned by Mexican Jaime Munguia.
Soro (31, 34 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses) was originally to face defending champion Brian Castano but the Argentinean refused to sign the stock exchange bid before being dismissed by the WBA, giving way to the Russian Magomed Kurbanov. The latter having received his visa for France that Friday, he was replaced in extremis by Prestot (28 years, 23 wins, 2 losses).
In the furnace of the Palais des Sports in Marseille, Soro was logically superior, although Prestot made him waver on a nice right at the end of the first round. The native of Abidjan has accelerated from the fourth recovery before putting down his opponent in the 5th after an avalanche of blows, forcing the corner of Prestot to throw in the towel.
"I'm happy to have taken this title but I know that now great challenges await me, said Soro on Canal +.The hardest thing is not to get there but to stay there. Once I took this title, it will be very hard for me to take it.I have struggled for quite a few years and I had to reach this goal, regardless of the opponent. a first dream that has just been realized, there will be others. "
"I had confidence in my physique," he explained, "I knew I was going to climb crescendo." At the end of the 2nd and 3rd rounds, he was touched, I felt it and it was only it was a matter of time, I did not want to rush to knock him out quickly, physically he was down, he was on the back. "
© 2019 AFP