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Lani Daniels was confident she’d got the job done at the end of the 10th round, but there was still an anxious wait before she could be sure she’d snared the IBF women’s world heavyweight title fight against Alrie Meleisea.
Daniels was crowned champion after a unanimous points decision – 98-92, 98-92 and 99-1- in Auckland on Saturday night in a highly entertaining slugfest.
Having raised her arms after the final bell, she was again raising them when her emphatic victory was confirmed.
Daniels, the three-times New Zealand champion who took a 7-2-2 record into the bout, dominated all but perhaps a couple of the 10 two-minute rounds in the first world title fight between two New Zealand-born boxers.
If anything, it was surprising the bout went the distance, given Daniels closed out the sixth and seventh rounds with brutal flurries and threatened to end it then and there.
But Meleisea, a two-time NZ heavyweight champion who carried a 6-1-1 record into the night, stayed in the fight despite being rocked.
Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
Alrie Meleisea suffered her second career loss on Saturday night in Auckland.
With blood streaming from her schnoz, she even countered with a few savage combos of her own.
However, Daniels certainly got the better of her, utilising her nimble footwork and left jab to start the fight, and regularly unleashing rapid combos as it dragged on.
She also showed off her devastating upper-cut on a number of occasions when the pair got tied up, yet she couldn’t drop her stubborn opponent.
It didn’t matter, the judges rewarded her in what could have been her last fight before retiring a champion.
That said, having stated she’d call it quits regardless of the result before the fight, she left the door open afterwards.
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