Alberto “La Avispa” Puello (21-0) made history Saturday night in Hollywood, Florida. Puello captured the WBA super lightweight title with a split decision victory over Botirzhon Akhmedov (9-2). The final scores were 117-111 in favor of Puello on two scorecards which overruled the 115-113 score in favor of Akhmedov.
With the victory, Puello became the first super lightweight champion in the history of the Dominican Republic. Puello is very proud of his accomplishment.
“It is something that I have dreamed of since I was a kid. Akhmedov is a great fighter and provided a great challenge. I am very happy to not only win this title for myself but for my country of the Dominican Republic. Our country received two new champions with my win and Hector Luis Garcia’s win,” Puello told BoxingScene.com.
The 28-year-old hopes to build off of his momentum and land an even bigger fight in his next ring appearance. With former undisputed champion and current WBO/IBF champion Josh Taylor tied up with a rematch against Jack Catterall in the fall, Puello would like a showdown against former unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez before the end of the year. Lopez made his super lightweight debut earlier this month with a knockout victory over Pedro Campa.
“I would love to fight Josh Taylor and unify titles but I understand he is fighting Catterall again. Since he is busy, Teofimo should fight me. I have a belt and he wants to be a two-division champion so I am the only other person he can fight to make that happen. He has been barking about becoming undisputed at 140 so he should have no problem fighting me next. I am willing to fight him anyplace and anytime,” Puello stated.
The plan for now is for Puello to take a couple weeks off and then get right back in the gym and wait to get a date for his next assignment.
“I don’t want to be out of the ring for long. I will take a short break and then start training again. I like to always be in shape. You never know when an opportunity will present itself and you have to be ready at all times,” said Puello.
Send questions or comments to ringsidewriter@gmail.com. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter