Simone Maludrottu

European bantamweight champ Simone Maludrottu (20-1; 8KOs) successfully defended his title tonight in Cagliari, Italy, scoring an impressive stoppage over Hassan Naji (13-4-2; 5KOs) of Belgium. After an even forst round, Maludrottu began to dictate the pace of the fight and hurt Naji in round three. The end came in the following session, when a clean right hand landed on Naji's chin, leaving the Belgian fighter on the canvas for more than five minutes. Fortunately, Naji left the arena on his own feet and the Italian crowd was able to cheer for their rising star. Maludrottu is currently ranked in the top 15 at bantamweight by the WBA, WBC and IBF and is likely to move up to top 10 after this impressive performance. The fight was staged by Tonino Puddu. Official time of the stoppage was 2:28 of round four.