Uzbekistan’s Bektemir Melikuziev retained his Intercontinental bantamweight belt by defeating Pierre Dibombe by technical decision last Saturday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

The regional champion of the pioneering body took cards of 79-73, 79-73 and 78-74 after the bout was stopped at the height of the eighth round due to a cut on the defending champion’s eyelid. 

Melikuziev dominated most of the bout against the Frenchman in an entertaining fight in which both suffered cuts to those areas of the eye. However, the Uzbek’s cut was so deep due to an accidental headbutt that he was unable to continue and they had to go to the scorecards, where he was up by a wide margin. 

With the win, Melikuziev put his record at 14 wins, 1 loss and 10 knockouts. For his part, Dibombe now has 22 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw and 12 knockouts.