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Koen Mazoudier had to wait out the final scorecards for what appeared to be a clear cut repeat win over Joel Camilleri.
Two of the three judges were on board with that logic, as Mazoudier earned a second consecutive split decision victory over his countryman. Camilleri somehow claimed a 96-95 nod on the dissenting card, overruled by more sensible scores of 98-92 and 99-92 in favor of Mazoudier in their junior middleweight bout.
Action was slow out the gate but picked up steam in the second half of the fight. Camilleri was competitive in spots through seven rounds, before Mazoudier picked up steam in the final three rounds. Mazoudier landed several clean shots in the tenth and final round but Camilleri (22-8-1, 10KOs) showed resilience in absorbing the blows and lasting the distance.
Mazoudier improves to 10-2 (4KOs) with his second straight win. The bout was his first since a more accurately scored split decision over Camilleri last November.
Rising junior bantamweight Taylah Robertson (6-1, 2KOs) picked up her second win in four weeks, dominating Caracas’ Yoselin Fernandez in a tenth-round stoppage. The bout was one-sided before mercifully stopped at 0:33 of round ten, as Fernandez (11-2, 5KOs) was miserably failed by her corner who allowed her to absorb far too much punishment.
Robertson also earned a five-round points win on the undercard of Devin Haney’s undisputed lightweight championship winning effort over George Kambosos Jr. on June 4 in Melbourne. Both shows were carried by ESPN+, providing tremendous coverage for the 24-year-old from Brisbane.
Dana Coolwell returned to the win column in a big way, scoring a spectacular fourth-round knockout of Philippines’ Lorenz Ladrada (11-3-1, 3 KOs) in their featherweight bout. A left hook to the liver produced the highlight reel finish for Beerwah’s Coolwell (8-2, 6KOs).
All of the aforementioned results preceded the Mairis Briedis-Jai Opetaia lineal/IBF cruiserweight championship as part of an ESPN+/Australia Main Event telecast Saturday evening at Gold Coast Convention Centre in the Gold Coast suburb of Broadbeach, Australia.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox