Roman Fress vs. Armend Xhoxhaj ends in a split-decision draw in Magdeburg after a thrilling cruiserweight rematch.
Cruiserweight contenders Roman Fress and Armend Xhoxhaj split last night at the Messehalle Magdeburg with a hard-fought draw after split-decision draws. The event was organized by SES and broadcast live on MDR.
Fress (23-1-1, 13 knockouts) went into the fight as WBO Inter-Continental Champion and was also number one in the WBO rankings in the race for David Benavidez’s WBO world title. Xhoxhaj (23-4-1, 12 knockouts) traveled to Magdeburg as a guest fighter with his WBO European title and was ranked tenth in the WBO rankings. The duel was a rematch four years after the first encounter between the two, in which Xhoxhaj inflicted his only career defeat on Fress – also by a narrow split-decision. After twelve intense rounds, the judges’ scorecards read: 114-114, 114-112 for Xhoxhaj and 116-111 for Fress.
Fress had to go down twice in the third round (knockdowns), but was able to recover quickly each time. Xhoxhaj then failed to finish the fight early, while he became increasingly tired in the later rounds. Fress’ dream of a world title came under serious threat early on when he was knocked down for the first time after landing a right hook. This was followed shortly afterwards by a second knockdown at the end of the round after a counter right, while he had previously been on the offensive himself.
In the middle rounds, Fress increasingly boxed from the defensive and moved a lot on the back foot to avoid further damage after the difficult third round. However, Xhoxhaj controlled the fight for long stretches and looked the more active man until the ninth round before visibly fading in the championship rounds. The result was clearly contested by Xhoxhaj, especially given the 10-7 scoreline in the third round.