Despite a bad blow received to the right eye, Souleymane Cissokho ended up dominating, at the end of the courage, the Englishman Kieron Conway, Saturday in Arlington (Texas) and seized the WBA intercontinental belt of the super-welters, in front of a crowd of 70,000 people.
The 29-year-old Frenchman was declared the winner, by majority decision, by two out of three judges (92-97, 96-93, 95-94).
His 13th victory (8 before the limit) in as many fights.
“I thought that I was not going to get up, because I could not see any more, underlined the Parisian with the big heart, touched in the 9th round.
I didn't see the blow coming, I felt like I had lost my eye.
But I said to myself get
up, give it your all
”.
Focus on the global belt
Souleymane Cissokho indeed put two knees to the ground and was briefly counted by the referee, before suffering a hail of blows from the Englishman who failed to finish the job. On which, almost as if nothing had happened, he took it over and finished the fight strong enough to maintain his lead in points. "It's nice because it's a lot of work, a lot of sacrifice, it's the first time I've tasted the ground, but at least I went to get the belt," added the Olympic bronze medalist in 2016 , proud to have inflicted on his 24-year-old opponent his second defeat (16 wins, including 3 by KO, 1 draw). This victory will allow him to quickly climb the ladder in the super-welterweight hierarchy, probably the World Top 10, his ambition being to compete in a world championship,in a category currently dominated by the formidable American Jermell Charlo.
For him, who had spent 18 months without boxing, mainly because of the Covid-19 pandemic, until his victorious return to a ring, on March 11 against the Mexican Daniel Echeverria (referee stop in the 6th round) , the evening is all the more successful as he was able to demonstrate his talent in a unique context. At the heart of the AT&T Stadium, home of the American football team (NFL) of the Dallas Cowboys, he boxed in front of 70,000 people, the vast majority of Mexican origin, who came above all to witness the shock of the evening between their hero "Canelo" Alvarez, winner of the Englishman Billy Joe Saunders, for the unification of titles in the super-middleweight. A record crowd for a boxing match in a covered enclosure in the United States,the largest gathering for a sporting event since the onset of the pandemic. Upon his arrival on the catwalk leading to the ring, Cissokho, who nevertheless experienced the thrill of an Olympic medal, in bronze, at the Rio Games in 2016, and notably boxed at the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York did not could refrain from repeating: "It's crazy, it's crazy, it's really crazy".
