I won fairly – Moses

Paulus Moses said he retained his WBO Africa lightweight title fairly against Cosmos Cheka on Saturday night after the referee stepped in and stopped the fight midway through the fifth round.

Moses trapped Cheka in his corner and laid in with about six unanswered blows, before the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.

Cheka who seemed to be well covered was disgusted with the decision and stormed out of the ring before the official announcement was made.

It was a strong comeback by Moses who was earlier knocked down in the second round and had to take a standing eight-count.

From then on however, Cheka ran as much as he could and there was little action until the fifth round when Moses finally trapped him on the ropes.

After the fight Moses said the early knockdown did not bother him and he just followed his corner’s orders.

“The knockdown did not hurt me because I was going back, but I immediately got up and remained focussed. I just kept on following my corner’s tactics, they said I must get closer to the guy so that’s what I did and then I knocked him out. Cosmos was just running and didn’t want to fight,” he said.

Moses said he won the fight fair and square.

“I think I won it fair and square. I caught him in the corner with about six punches and then the referee had to stop the fight. All those punches hit him in the head he was not even blocking them and thats why the referee stopped the fight,” he said.

“Cosmos was talking too much before the fight, he said he would send me into retirement, but I’m still here, I’m still the champion and the WBO is watching me. I’m going forward now, now I should be ranked at number six or seven in the world,” he added.

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