This Saturday, at the Centro Pavesi in Milan, Edoardo Germani’s The Art of Fighting will stage an interesting boxing card focused on two highly anticipated and, in some ways, necessary rematches due to the controversy sparked by the outcomes of the initial bouts. We’re talking about Francesco Paparo vs Nicola Henchiri and Mohamed Elmaghraby vs Stiven Leonetti Dredhaj: both fights took place on March 15 at the Allianz Cloud in Milan and left a bitter aftertaste because of their controversial endings. These rematches will aim to settle the pecking order once and for all.
Francesco Paparo vs Nicola Henchiri – Italian Super Featherweight Title
A majestic, impressive, and dominant start, nearly ruined by an adrenaline rush: three and a half months ago, 24-year-old Paparo had little trouble putting Henchiri in serious difficulty before nearly throwing it all away.
Forced to take a knee after being hit with a right to the head and a left to the body, Henchiri was struck again while looking at the referee and listening to the count. As the 35-year-old from Tuscany collapsed to the canvas, referee Sauro Di Clementi called a technical knockout in Paparo’s favor, disregarding the fact that the decisive blow had landed while Henchiri was already kneeling.
A rematch is therefore clearly appropriate to make up for the injustice suffered by the loser, although the prediction seems fairly obvious. In that one and a half rounds at the Allianz Cloud, Paparo had shown superior speed, coordination, and power — qualities that Henchiri will likely struggle to match this Saturday.
Mohamed Elmaghraby vs Stiven Leonetti Dredhaj – 8-round light heavyweight bout
The first bout between Elmaghraby and Leonetti was marred by no fewer than three controversies: one related to the fighters’ weight, one to the scorecards, and one — the most serious — to the final result. The first issue arose on the scale, with Leonetti coming in nearly two kilos over the light heavyweight limit. Elmaghraby, who had made weight, agreed to fight anyway, despite facing a heavier opponent.
The other contentious moments came in the sixth round, when the bout was stopped prematurely due to a cut near Elmaghraby’s left eye, which the referee attributed to a supposed clash of heads. The early reading of the scorecards awarded a Majority Decision to “Momo.”
The judges’ decision sparked significant discontent, as many observers had Leonetti ahead at the time of the stoppage. To be fair, the fight had been extremely uneventful, and from this writer’s perspective, several rounds were very difficult to score due to both boxers’ reluctance to throw punches with decisiveness and accuracy.
The real scandal, however, lies in the fact that Elmaghraby’s cut — as was unmistakably clear from TV replays — was caused by a well-placed right hand from Leonetti, who should therefore have been declared the winner by technical knockout. The outcome of the rematch remains wide open.
Undercard
The following bouts will also be featured on the undercard:
- Vincenzo Lizzi vs Francesco Coppola – 6 rounds, cruiserweight
- Veronica Tosi vs Cristina Garganese – 6 rounds, super bantamweight
- Valerio Mantovani vs Francesco Magrì – 6 rounds, middleweight
- Komi Paul Amefian vs Booba Diouf – 6 rounds, cruiserweight
- Catalin Ionescu vs Luka Veljovic – 6 rounds, super featherweight