by James Slater: Last night, in Nottingham, U.K, European super-bantamweight champion Rendall Munroe of Leicester made the first defence of his new title. Facing cagey Frenchman Salem Bouaita, Munroe had a pretty frustrating night before finally getting to his man in rounds six and seven. Opting not to come out for round number 8, the 33 year old was a TKO loser. Officially a injured arm was the reason, but in truth Bouaita didn’t really want to know pretty much all the way through the fight..
Bouaita came out slinging some wild hooks in the 1st, and certainly made the 27 year old Munroe work hard to get his win. But by the 4th the Frenchman’s output began to fade dramatically. Content to spoil, hold and clown around, Bouaita smiled as he succeeded in frustrating the champion. There were spells of good action in the contest, courtesy of Munroe’s efforts to get on with the fight, but this one was not one for the archives.
It took a while for southpaw Munroe to get his punches on target, such were the 33 year old’s adept defensive moves. But once he began connecting with some hard shots, the Frenchman visibly began to fool around more. Smiling at his corner at times, Bouaita, with his hands down by his sides, was offering virtually nothing in the way of offence come the 6th round. At times, such as in the 5th round, Munroe managed to pin his man in a corner and pound away with both hands. But in general Bouaita was doing a superb job of messing the champion around and surviving.
The end came as something of a surprise, as the challenger remained on his stool at the start of the 8th. To the relief of not only Munroe, but no doubt the fans who had paid to see a competitive bout, the fight was over. Bouaita was still smiling as the fight was being waved off. The Frenchman is certainly a strange one, that much is clear.
Indeed, the champion, who made the first retention of the title he won from the big punching Kiko Martinez just a few weeks ago, was given no easy opponent to look good against for his initial defence.
With the win, Munroe lined himself up for a number of well deserved paydays down the road, however. A dustbin man by day, the 27 year old is a very hard working individual. Now 15-1(7), the champ can look forward to his next fight. The beaten Bouaita fell to 19-13(6). It’s difficult to see where he goes from here at age 33.