The Italian-Albanian Muhamet Qamili gave it everything he had, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the talented 21-year-old Mexican Brandon Mejía Mosqueda, who captured the featherweight Boxing Grand Prix title after an intense final. Our “Eti” therefore finished second out of thirty-two participants in the Riyadh tournament organized by the WBC with the support of Riyadh Season. Mejía Mosqueda prevailed by unanimous decision with the following scorecards: 76–75, 76–75, 77–74, 78–73, 78–73.
The opening round was evenly contested, with Mosqueda immediately showcasing excellent hand speed while Qamili stubbornly challenged his initiative, finishing the round strongly.
From the second round onward, however, the Mexican boxer’s counterpunching skills began to emerge, causing problems for our athlete, who was forced to cross a dangerous barrage of punches in order to close the distance.
After suffering for six minutes from the gap in execution speed and finding himself behind on all the official scorecards at the first public reading required by the rules, Qamili tried valiantly to turn the tide in the fourth round. Eti landed three consecutive right hands, forcing Mosqueda into a clinch, but the Mexican regained control in the second half of the round.
The fifth round proved to be a tough one for our boxer. Eager to make up ground, Qamili began to leave inviting openings and ended up absorbing several fully loaded hooks from his powerful opponent. Qamili’s jaw, however, passed the test brilliantly, proving to be truly granite-like, as the Italian never showed the slightest sign of being hurt.
As the fight moved into its final stages, Mosqueda, showing great savvy despite his young age, significantly increased his use of spoiling tactics. The Mexican used his hand speed and timing to land first, then lowered his head and lunged forward, effectively preventing Qamili from firing back.
This strategy made it almost impossible for the Italian boxer to mount a final surge or find continuity in his attacks, especially since the referee took an eternity before finally docking Mosqueda a point. That happened at the start of the eighth and final round, after numerous verbal warnings in previous rounds, and only following a blatant wrestling-style takedown by the Mexican fighter.
Despite the scorecards appearing beyond recovery, Qamili never stopped trying, applying relentless pressure over the final three minutes, though without finding the right opening to land decisive blows.
While the judges were unanimous in favor of Mosqueda, they differed in their assessment of the margin between the two fighters. Personally, I agree with the “middle” scorecard, which gave the winner a three-point advantage.
In my opinion, Eti has nothing to reproach himself for in the way this final unfolded. He prepared meticulously, gave everything he had in the ring, and can return home with his head held high. Standing opposite him was an opponent with major qualities, to the point of being considered the best Mexican prospect on the current scene.
It is no small detail that Mosqueda was forced to retreat and clinch in this fight more than he had in his previous twelve bouts combined. Usually a war machine, on this occasion he chose to box strictly as a counterpuncher and to resort to every trick of the trade rather than accept a close-range battle.
Of course, knowing Qamili’s ambitious character, this is only scant consolation. We are convinced, however, that once this defeat has been processed, it will be used by the Italian-Albanian boxer and his coach Alessandro Elmoety as a springboard to move forward with renewed motivation and a wealth of experience to draw upon in the future.