Marcus Morrison bounced back from a mostly lethargic performance to knock out former title challenger Emanuele Blandamura in Italy.
In the main event of a Matchroom Boxing Italy show in Rome, Morrison landed a vicious right hand late in the ninth round to drop Blandamura to win the WBC International Silver 160-pound title. After a strong start in the first round, Morrison failed to capitalize on the early momentum and Blandamura was aboe to outwork him throughout the fight. But in the ninth round, Blandamura went down from the right hand and was slow to get back up. Although Blandamura got up before the end of the 10-count, but the referee waived off the fight by the count of nine, awarding the victory to Morrison.
Also on the card was Serhiy Demchenko stopping Hakim Zoulikha a little more than a minute into the seventh round to become the new EBU European Union light heavyweight champion. Demchenko scored a knockdown in the fifth round and nearly stopped him then, but Zoulikha was able to survive a couple of more rounds until Demchenko landed a series of shots that force the referee to step in and stop the fight in the seventh round.
Below are the full results of the July 11 Matchroom Boxing Italy on DAZN card from the Stadio Nicola Pietrangeli in Rome, Lazio, Italy:
- Marcus Morrison defeated Emanuele Blandamura by TKO, round 9, 2:44 to win the WBC International Silver Middleweight Title
- Serhiy Demchenko defeated Hakim Zoulikha by TKO, round 7, 1:20 to win the EBU European Union Light Heavyweight Title
- Tommy McCarthy defeated Francesco Cataldo by TKO, round 3, 0:01
- Emiliano Marsili defeated Brayan Mairena by unanimous decision (60-54, 60-54, 60-55)
- Vincenzo Bevilacqua defeated Novak Radulovic by unanimous decision (60-54, 59-55, 59-55)
- Mirko Natalizi defeated Antonio Gomez by unanimous decision (60-54, 60-54, 59-55)
- Valentino Manfredonia defeated Sokol Arsic by unanimous decision (39-37, 39-37, 39-37)