By Alexey Sukachev

In an upset, undefeated but mostly untested Frenchman Romain Jacob (21-0, 7 KOs) has soundly upset top-ranked super featherweight contender and reigning European champion Deivis Boschiero of Italy with a close split decision over twelve rounds for the Italian’s EBU belt. The bout took place on Friday night at Calypso Hall in Calais, France.

Boschiero, 32, was rated #1 by the WBC, #2 by the WBO and #3 by both the WBA and the IBF, coming into this fight. More importantly, he received high accolades two years ago after a spirited (and some say “sufficient”) effort in Japan against WBC champion Takahiro Aoh, losing via a controversial split decision. Since then Boschiero won and defended his EBU title three times before running into Jacob.

The latter, more known as a son of WBC super bantamweight champion Thierry Jacob, than anything else, was rated #15 by the WBO, and that was his highest ranking. Romain, 25, was also French national and IBF Youth champion.

The Italian started quickly, controlling the tempo and throwing a number of punches in the first two stanzas. The third was fairly even, and Jacob began to match his opponent’s punch output with his own precision. Jacob turned back the heat in the fourth, outboxing and outpunching the Italian. He did the same in the fifth to even the fight.

In the sixth, Boschiero was as active as in the beginning of the bout, but Jacob almost snatched it with a horrific uppercut at the very end of the stanza. It was probably the turning point of the match-up, as Jacob began to feel more and more confidence after that. He was better in the seventh, while the eighth was pretty even. It looked like Boschiero injured his right hand in the ninth stanza.

The tenth was mostly even but the Frenchman suffered a huge cut over his right eyebrow, which impaired his vision with dripping blood. Jacob was slightly better in the eleventh, and Boschiero turned dirty and biting in the twelfth and final round, showing his wrestling skills rather than his pugilistic origin.

Judge Jose Lazaro Carrasco Jr. saw the fight in favour of Boschiero – 115-113. He was overruled by Olivier Brien (114-115) and Philippe Verbecke (113-115), who favoured Jacob in a close fight. BoxingScene is in agreement with the latter judges, having it 116-114 – for the French fighter.

In the co-feature, Frenchman Karim Chakim (26-9, 11 KOs) was dropped in the first by Bulgarian Yordan Vasiliev (16-34-2, 4 KOs) and went through hell against this opponent to get a dubious decision over six rounds.