The biggest bout of the night was in France of all places as the talented Carlos Takam (30-1-1, 23) put on an aggressive performance against veteran Tony Thompson (39-5, 26). Thompson, coming in at a career high, simply couldn't match the work rate or aggression of the French based fighter who looked like a man possessed on route to winning a clear decision. For Thompson this could be the end. He may have beaten Odlanier and David Price recently but losses to Kubrat Pulev and Takam should likely make Thompson realise he won't be getting a third shot at a world title.
For Takam this win meant more than his previous 29. Not only was it a win that saw claiming the WBC Silver title but it also saw his ranking jump and he'll be looking at a WBC world title shot in the near future.
Whilst Takam is the obvious pick as a future title challenger we've got to admit that we're impressed by the very hard hitting Kenneth Odeke (6-1, 5) who is very young and very promising. Although Odeke was unable to finish off Moses Matovu (5-42-4) he did dominate the fight and took his first decision victory. At 21 years old the British based Ugandan is a fighter we rate very highly and we'd love to see him given a shot on a Prizefighter type of a tournament as he has the tools that we think could make him a very to watch fighter, if allowed to develop properly.
In Hungary there was a mismatch as Zoltan Toth (4-1, 4) made light work of the win-less Jozsef Rafael (0-2). Rafael was stopped in the second round, lasting just 1 round longer than he did when the same men foght earlier this year.
In the US we had 2 Heavyweights bouts on the same card in Rhode Island. In an early finish the unbeaten Donnie Palmer (5-0-1, 5) took care of John Orr (1-4) in 2 rounds to continue the unbeaten start to Palmer's career.
The other bout saw the once beaten Jesse Barboza (9-1-1, 5) given an unexpectedly tough test by Jamal Woods (4-12-3, 4). Barboza may not have come too close to winning but two of the judges did give Woods a round, had it been 1 more rounf they'd.