LONDON, 27 February 2005 — Britain’s Matt Skelton won the lightly regarded WBU heavyweight title here late Friday and promptly said he wanted to take on the big boys.
The 37-year-old British and Commonwealth champion grabbed the belt in only his 16th professional fight by stopping Argentina’s Fabio Eduardo Moli in six hard-fought rounds.
Skelton totally dominated an opponent who outweighed him by several kilograms as he chalked up his 16th straight win since switching to professional boxing in September 2002 after a career as a martial arts fighter in Japan.
He bundled the bulky Moli over inside the first minute and, although it looked more of a push than a punch, referee Dave Parris ignored the protests of Moli and administered a count of eight. Skelton was unloading his bombs from the start and in the second round a big right rocked the man from Cordoba on his heels.
A right upper cut, body shots from both hands and two more upper cuts had Moli covering up as Skelton clubbed away.
Moli resorted to claiming injury with an exaggerated stagger after Skelton went through with his head and although the indiscretion earned the Luton puncher one of several warnings it did nothing to halt his forward march.
Something had to give and it was Moli who was floored three times in round six before referee Parris called a halt with 44 seconds of the session left.
Skelton said after the fight that he would be keen to next take on compatriot Danny Williams who defeated Mike Tyson last year, although he said he was keeping his options open.
Fugitive Caught in 1995
Murder of Boxer
In New York, fugitive wanted for the 1995 murder of professional Russian-born boxer Sergei Kobozev, whose bones were later found in a suburban New Jersey backyard, has been arrested and was presented in federal court on Friday night.
Natan Gozman, whom authorities say is a member of the Russian mob, pleaded not guilty to the charges during a brief hearing in Manhattan federal court. He was ordered held without bail. Prosecutors said Gozman was arrested on Thursday afternoon in Poland and was then flown to New York.
He had been indicted in 2000 on racketeering charges that included the kidnapping and murder of Kobozev, a Russian emigre who vanished from Brooklyn in 1995.
At the time of his disappearance, Kobozev, 31 was a US Boxing Association cruiserweight champion. He was only months away from what would have been his biggest bout: a $100,000 shot at the World Boxing Council’s cruiserweight title. Federal agents discovered his remains in March 1999 while digging in the Livingston, N.J. backyard of a high-ranking member of a Russian organized crime group, prosecutors said.
