Yesterday evening at the historical house of gladiators "The Colosseum" in Rome, Italy, Vincenzo Cantatore (33-4-1, 27 KOs) defeated Alexander Gurov (39-6-1, 33 kOs) over twelve hard-fought rounds to capture the vacant European cruiserweight title. Gurov forced the action in the first half of the bout, making good use of his reach advantage and peppering Cantatore with southpaw jabs and vicious straight lefts on top. The Ukranian was cut on the scalp in the second round due to an accidental clash of heads but gained momentum in the fourth staggering the Italian and blooding his nose. Cantatore weathered the storm and reacted with some combination of his own but overall seemed too wary of his opponent’s firepower. In the second half of the bout, Gurov faded visibly thus allowing the badly bruised Cantatore to pick up the pace and rush in with some vicious right hands. Gurov was staggered in the 11th round but held on for dear life. With the verdict still in the balance, the 12th round was quite uneventful and full of clinches. Judges Marcus McDonnell (UK) and Jean-Francois Toupin (France) scored the bout 116-114 for Cantatore while Manuel Oliver Palomo (Spain) had it a draw, 114-114. Fightnews had Gurov a close winner by way of 115-113.