Paris (AFP)
After spending a year without boxing, the Frenchman Arsen Goulamirian evacuated all his frustration by outperforming Australian Kane Watts, beaten by KO in the fourth round, to retain his WBA World Light Heavyweight title on Friday in Bercy.
For the great return of noble art in the Parisian theater, thirteen years after a last meeting with Brahim Asloum on the bill, Goulamirian did not miss the appointment and ensured the show, demonstrating that his lack of competition in no way impaired his power and technique.
The final appearance on a 32-year-old Franco-Armenian ring was on October 20, 2018, and a success on the Australian Marc Flanagan. Since then, he had had to gnaw his brakes, three potential opponents having stolen each turn (Beibut Shumenov, Denis Lebedev, Yuri Kashinsky).
Promoted to the rank of "super-champion" by the WBA without a fight after the sudden announcement of Lebedev's retirement, Goulamirian wanted only one thing: to finally be able to let go of his blows and prove that this belt acquired on green carpet came back to him from law.
While waiting for much more prestigious opponents, Kane Watts (21 wins, 4 losses) was the ideal stumbling block to allow the Frenchman to shine and revive. Aged 37, 11th in the WBA standings and having never been outside his country, the Australian has logically constituted a formality for Goulamirian, still undefeated in 25 fights (including 17 before the limit) .
Under the eyes of Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, boxing enthusiast heartily whistled on his arrival, Watts only met a very weak resistance by being sent to the mat in the first and second rounds before finally giving in to the fourth round after a terrible chaining to the body of the Frenchman.
- Domination -
"I wanted to feel the opponent in the first round, feel the ring, find myself at home after 13 months of waiting, I accelerated to the 2nd with uppercuts and I found the flaw in the body. I was not trying to knock him out, I wanted to do rounds, touch where I needed and at the right time, "said one of the two Frenchmen holding a world belt with Nordine Oubaali (WBC rooster).
With this success that finally confirms its dominance in the light heavyweight WBA, Goulamirian can now hope to face opponents of larger caliber before eventually attacking the world belts of the other three major professional federations (WBC, WBO , IBF).
"What is certain is that I want to win at least two more belts next year," he said after his victory.
A victorious French "world champion", a handsome knockout and an almost full room: the promoter Sébastien Acariès, who took over the family torch after the withdrawal of his father Michel, has thus fulfilled his contract by reconnecting with the big parties of boxing in Bercy.
He had also had the good idea to propose to the program a Franco-French duel between the two super-welters Michel Soro and Cédric Vitu for a minor title, the WBA Gold Championship. After having warmed up well on social networks in recent months, the two men were finally able to settle their accounts in a ring and it is Soro who largely dominated the debates by winning by stoppage of the referee in the 5th recovery, his 35th success (including 24 knockouts, 2 losses, 1 draw).
© 2019 AFP