#APB56kg Final Preview
04 April 2017
APB 56Kg
Palais des sports Marcel-Cerdan, Levallois-Perret is the venue for the AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) Inaugural Title Match for the Bantamweight (56 kg) division, and an eagerly awaited rematch between home favourite Khedafi Djelkhir and Argentina’s Alberto Melian headlines the evening.
Melian won their earlier APB contest in week two of the competition on all three of the judges scorecards, but Djelkhir was strong in the latter part of the fight which will give him confidence for the return match.
France’s Djelkhir is one of the most decorated fighters in APB, with a professional boxing record of 16-0, plus a silver medal from the 2008 Olympic Games.
2-1 in APB, he began his journey with a points win over Venezuela’s Yonni Blanco, and secured his place in the title match with a dominant performance over Brazil’s Robenilson Vieira De Jesus.
Melian, the World Series of Boxing Season IV Individual Champion is 3-0 in APB, and in his first bout he dropped just one round against Kenya’s Benson Gicharu Njangiru.
After his
second round win over Djelkhir, he struggled in the Matches for Champions series but ultimately came out on top with a split decision win close win against China’s Jiawei Zhang.
The Argentine fighter has lost the last round in his last two APB fights, and with the title match being held over eight rounds, could the advantage be with Djelkhir the longer the fight progresses?
Although Melian has plenty of WSB experience, Djelkhir has competed over ten rounds as a professional, and his stamina could be a key component of this bout, along with Melian’s tenacity and skill.
Elsewhere on the card, Benson Gicharu Njangiru meets the 2-1 reigning AIBA World Champion Javid Chalabiyev, China’s two-time Asian Games silver medalist Jiawei Zhang fights Robenilson Vieira De Jesus, and former AIBA World Champion Sergey Vodopiyanov competes against Yonni Blanco.
