Steve Claggett won a trench war against Miguel Maduen to retain the NABF super lightweight (140 lb) title at the Montreal Casino on Tuesday.
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Claggett (37-7-2, 25 KO) defeated the Mexican (30-2-0, 28 KO) by unanimous decision (99-91, 99-91, 98-92) in a never lifting your foot game. He also got hold of the WBO International title.
The Albertan wanted to put on a show to put himself on the map, and the spectacular pace he showed in this bout will work in his favor.
“We can say that this is one of the fights of the year, it was a real show. He has skills that he hasn’t even shown yet, he has finesse in his boxing, we have a lot of potential going into the world championship fight,” said Camille Estephan of Eye of the Tiger Management after the bout.
Moved
Steven Claggett wore the scars of his struggle on his face and appeared emotionally drained when he met the media.
“I haven’t shown my best side yet, I can do even better, and we’ll see how far I can go.”
Now he hopes that this convincing game will allow him to get closer to his goal.
“I want to get to the top of the world. I know that everything is possible with the team I have behind me. It’s a dream come true, I have consistency and a schedule for the first time in my life,” he said, very moved.
“We’ll definitely be fifth and tenth in the standings after this fight,” Estephan said.
Collector
Madueno, a phenomenal player, showed great courage in countering all of Claggett’s attacks.
The Mexican suffered a series of blows for ten rounds without flinching and only started to show signs of fatigue from the seventh round.
Claggett worked him to the body and kept finding a gap between his two gloves to punch him in the face multiple times during each round of the fight.
And above all, the 34-year-old boxer from Calgary has never slowed down. He showed impressive methodicality.
