In Belgrade, Serbia, cruiserweight Dilan Prasovic moved to 14-0 with a ninth-round stoppage of Edin Puhalo. With the reverse, Puhalo dropped to 19-1.
Prasovic won a WBO final eliminator defeating Puhalo in a poor fight featuring too much clinching and a lack of technique from Puhalo.
Montenegrin Prasovic floored Puhalo with a left hook to the temple in the second, and by the fourth, Puhalo was bleeding heavily from the nose.
Prasovic dominated the action before the fight was halted in the ninth round. Prasovic was on top in the ninth when a clash of heads opened a bad cut over the right eye of Puhalo.
He looked at the referee as if to complain, and Prasovic took advantage of that stupid mistake from Puhalo and landed a left hook to the body.
Puhalo went down on one knee, still complaining. He got up, walked to a corner, and stood there with blood streaming from the cut over his eye, and made no attempt to continue, so he counted out on his feet.
The 25-year-old Prasovic has won 9 of his last 10 fights by KO/TKO and will now be the mandatory challenger for the winner of the vacant WBO title fight between Krzys Glowacki and Lawrence Okolie on 12 December.
DILAN PRASOVIC
Prasovic has a good level of skill but that he is No 3 in the WBO ratings without ever facing any fighter within a million miles of any version of world ratings is a condemnation of the way ratings are distorted now. In this fight, his last three victims were rated 103, 235, and 309 in the Box Rec ratings, and Puhalo’s opposition had been so much worse. Box Rec rated him 76.
Bosnia Puhalo had actually won his last 17 fights by KO/TKO. Still, as with Prasovic, his last three opponents illustrated the disgrace of his No 4 rating as Box Rec had them rated 231, 420, and 262, and with the WBO, that’s good enough to “earn” you a final eliminator.
