Unbeaten Cuban Rances Barthelemy won a 12-round unanimous decision over Denis Shafikov to claim the vacant International Boxing Federation lightweight world title in Las Vegas.

Russian southpaw Shafikov was aggressive early, throwing punches from all angles.

But he was troubled by a bad cut over his right eye from a Barthelemy punch in the seventh round.

As blood flowed profusely from the cut in the eighth, referee Vic Drakulich called the ringside doctor to inspect it.

Barthelemy, who on Friday improved to 24-0 with 13 wins inside the distance, stepped up his attack and his focus on the Russian's eye, and that, along with his height and reach advantage, saw him gain the decision by scores of 119-109, 116-112 and 116-112.

"There were moments where I was trapped into my style of fighting. It took me a minute to adjust to Shafikov's style and exchange punches with him," Barthelemy said. "I'm really happy with the number of punches I was able to get off."

"I was really impressed with Shafikov's warrior style," the Cuban added. "He never gave up even after getting hurt with punches that were affecting his fight. That really caught me by surprise and also that he was able to last the whole fight. The fact that he continued really says something about him as a fighter."

Barthelemy claimed the lightweight belt won by American Mickey Bey with a split decision over Mexico's Miguel Vazquez last year.

Bey vacated the title rather than make a mandatory defense against Shafikov in July.

The triumph cemented Barthelemy's arrival in the lightweight ranks. Owner of the IBF super featherweight world title last year, he dropped the belt to move up in weight.

The 29-year-old said before the bout he wanted the lightweight crown to be the second of "four or five" titles in different weight classes.

"That's my ultimate goal," he said.

For Shafikov, who fell to 36-2-1 with 19 knockouts, it was another defeat in a world title bid. In his only prior world title fight, he dropped a unanimous decision to Vazquez.
Source: AFP