Courage wasn’t enough for Eduardo Giustini, who fought with honor and gave his all, to overcome the burly Swedish heavyweight Pezhman Seifkhani at Palazzo Wanny in Florence. The Italian did everything he could to capture the vacant EBU Silver heavyweight title, but he lost a very tough bout on points, having gone down twice during the contest. The judges were unanimous in awarding the win to Seifkhani with the following scores: 117–109, 117–109, and 117–110.
The fight began at a rather slow pace, with Giustini circling around his opponent constantly and Seifkhani, who held the center of the ring, trying unsuccessfully to close the distance and force exchanges. Not much happened in the first two rounds, aside from a solid right hand from the Swede that pierced Giustini’s guard in the second stanza.
Starting in the third round, Giustini began using his right jab more frequently and managed to land a couple of nice lefts in the fourth. At that point, the bout still looked fairly even, with no clear man in control.
From the fifth round on, however, Seifkhani began initiating close-range action, which allowed him to use his physical strength to good effect. When he managed to pin Giustini against the ropes, the Swede cleverly used his sixteen-kilogram weight advantage to wear him down. And in open exchanges, Giustini often had to backpedal and grit his teeth to stay on his feet.
Unable to maintain the frenetic movement that had helped him avoid exchanges early on — largely due to the energy already spent — the Tuscan boxer resorted to constant upper-body movement in the second half of the fight to stay in front of his opponent without offering a stationary target.
It was a risky but necessary strategy from the Italian, yet it wasn’t enough to stop Seifkhani’s pressure. The Swede continued to widen the gap on the scorecards thanks to the greater impact of his punches.
Seifkhani entered the ninth round with the momentum clearly on his side and put an exclamation point on his performance with a beautiful combination — a left uppercut followed by a straight right — that resulted in the first knockdown of the night.
Although bruised and visibly worn down, Giustini responded admirably with a proud display in the tenth round. He attacked without fear and even managed to push his opponent back against the ropes multiple times in a desperate attempt to turn the tide.
Sadly, the Italian’s brave effort faded in the next round, when Seifkhani caught him off guard with a perfect counter right hand, scoring another knockdown. From there, the Swede managed the bout until the final bell, although his heavy breathing and clear fatigue in the final moments showed that this victory had cost him dearly.
Personally, I scored the bout 117–109 in favor of Seifkhani — fully in agreement with the judges, who performed their duties professionally and were not swayed by the home crowd.
Nonetheless, Eduardo Giustini was heartened by the well-deserved applause of the crowd, who acknowledged the determination with which he fought. The Tuscan boxer faced a very tough challenge, having to deal with a size, power, and strength disadvantage — but he refused to be overwhelmed and gave everything he had.