Friday night at Palais des Sports in Paris, France, Yunier Dorticos (21-0, 20 KOs), the knockout artist from Miami, Florida, by way of Havana, Cuba, won the vacant WBA World interim cruiserweight title by knocking out Kayembre Kalenga (22-3, 15 KOs), the gunslinger from Gravelines, Nord, France, by way of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in round 10 of a scheduled 12.

It was advertised as a “don’t blink” fight and the bout lived up to its billing.

Dorticos, fighting out of the red corner in red trunks, put Kalenga, fighting out of the blue corner in gold trunks, on the canvas in round two. Kalenga was hurt but undeterred. The African fought back, eating and dishing out punches along the way. Fighting in his adopted country for the first time, “El Toro” traded punches as though they were stamps and put some hurt on Dorticos in the middle rounds.

Kalenga was coming on strong when he lost a point in the eighth for hitting after the bell.

Dorticos brought down the curtain in round 10. He threw everything at Kalenga but the kitchen sink and everything but the kitchen sink was landing. The referee, Raul Caiz Jr., graciously waved it off to save Kalenga from being seriously hurt.

It was, as they say, a darn good fight.

In the co-main event, Armenian-born Arsen Goulamirian (17-0, 10 KOs), from Blagnac, Haute-Garonne, France, won the WBA Continental cruiserweight title by decisioning Russian cruiserweight champion Andrey Knyazev (13-3, 7 KOs), from Voronezh, Russia, over a scheduled 12 rounds.

The referee was Jean Robert Laine.

The judges for both bouts were Juan Manuel Garcia Reyes, Victor Simons, and Philippe Verbeke.

Renzo Bagnariol was the WBA supervisor.

This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.