Yoel Angeloni enjoyed a successful pro debut with a win over an unbeaten opponent. The lean Cuban-Italian southpaw from Rome, Italy fended off a determined Ken Aitken to take a four-round, unanimous decision win. Judges Andrew Campbell (39-37), Brett Manton (39-37) and Martin O’Malley (40-36) all scored in favor of Angeloni—just days shy of his 19th birthday—in their welterweight bout Sunday morning (local time) at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
The high-contact bout saw Angeloni put his height, reach and speed to proper use against Queensland’s Aitken, who was forced to overcome a cut. Angeloni landed the crisper combinations throughout their preliminary bout, though forced to overcome a cut outside his left eye from a clash of heads in the final minute of the fight.
Aitken falls to 3-1 (1KO) with the loss, while Angeloni—who is signed with DiBella Entertainment—improves to 1-0 (0KOs).
Brisbane’s Taylah Robertson (5-1, 1KO) pitched a five-round shutout over previously unbeaten Sarah Higginson (3-1-1, 1KO). Judges Andrew Campbell (50-45), Brett Manton (50-45) and Martin O’Malley (50-45) all scored the bout in favor of Robertson, who dropped down to flyweight after previously campaigning as a bantamweight.
Opening the show, locally based Pom Thanawut Phetkum soundly outpointed Sydney’s Hussein Fayad over four rounds in their junior lightweight contest. All three judges scored the bout 40-36 in favor of Phetkum (1-1, 0KOs), who picks up his first career victory. Fayad comes up well short in his pro debut, falling to 0-1, though already due to return July 2 in Revesby, Australia.
Headlining the show, Sydney-based lineal/WBA/IBF/WBO lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. (20-0, 10KOs) faces WBC lightweight titlist Devin Haney (27-0, 15KOs) of Las Vegas, for the undisputed championship.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox