By Marco Bratusch at ringside

Felice Moncelli (17-4-1, 5 KOs) managed to secure a close and arguably controversial unanimous decision victory against Adriano Nicchi (24-6-2, 11 KOs), from Arezzo, yesterday night at Pala Vespucci in east Rome, Italy. The bout was valid for the vacant WBC International belt in the super welterweight division and topped a BBT Production card, broadcst live by Sportitalia and attended by arguably 700 fans, with a rowdy group of them arrived from Tuscany in order to cheer Nicchi.

The fight pattern was always the same during the twelve rounds of balanced action, with referee Guido Cavalleri playing as the third man. Moncelli established himself as the aggressor early, his hands constantly kept high at the sides of his face, looking to close the distance walking slowly toward his opponent. However, his upper body and legs movements appeared a bit stiff, his punches were thrown particularly as single blows instead of combinations, and as a result his action looked often quite predictable.

Nicchi, aged 36, with former world champion Giacobbe Fragomeni in his corner, was clearly the more experienced and better schooled fighter of the two. The slightly taller boxer flicked a well timed jab up and down to keep Moncelli at bay and then dodged punches moving his torso backwards or just stepping away to make Moncelli miss, sometimes making him pay too with a quick-yet-light right counter.

In this scenario, Moncelli was mainly following Nicchi’s movements throughout the ring instead of cutting the ring off.

Moncelli’s telling, clean punches were sporadic, but still they were the hardest blows seen in the contest.

After seven rounds, Nicchi was lightly cut at both side of his eyebrows, however he looked to deserve the lead in terms of scoring. Moncelli came back strong in round ten and eleven, eventually wobbling his opponent with a couple of hard hooks and then bullying Nicchi on the ropes. The former European challenger succeeded to weather the storm until the final bell, besides recovering and providing a good final round.

The result was initially announced as a majority decision in favor of Moncelli but after several minutes, WBC supervisor Mauro Betti informed an error had occurred summing up one scorecard and amended the official result as a unanimous decision for Moncelli, scored 115-113 twice and 115-114.

On one hand, if the Moncelli’s rounds were more eye-catching because of his power and aggressive style, the rounds in favor of the more accurate and crafty Nicchi should be counted not less than six or seven, that’s why the decision can be seen a disputed one as both men conceded during post-fight interviews, showing true respect and sportsmanship to one another. Nevertheless, a rematch appears unlikely at this stage.

In the preliminary bouts, skillful featherweight southpaw Mauro Forte (6-0-1) sealed a well-deserved decision win over six rounds against tough yet clumsy pressure-brawler Glauco Cappella (3-7).

During the night, promoter Davide Buccioni informed that Italian super welterweight title holder Vincenzo Bevilacqua will defend his national belt against Francesco Lezzi in another BBT Production boxing event scheduled June 10th at the new baseball stadium in Rome, Italy.