Ringside Report: Fran Hennessy Stops
Aurora de Persio in Six Rounds
It took Fran Hennessy a couple of rounds to assert her dominance on Saturday night at the Wembley Arena in London over her Italian opponent. But Hennessy can be extremely pleased with her 6th round stoppage of Aurora De Persio.
It looked like becoming another uncomfortable night for Hennessy after a messy bruising opening two rounds. De Persio was a little guilty of using her head, and Hennessy ended the 2nd round with blood oozing from a cut under her right eye.
But Hennessy took control in the following round. The Italian showing real distress signals towards the end of the round. Body shots seemed to suck the energy out of her opponent. The pattern followed in the 4th round. Hennessy really went to work ripping in shots to head and body. De Persio was visibly flagging, and it was now just a battle for survival. As Hennessy was unleashing punches on her opponent without reply, the referee seemed ready to step in. The Italian survived. But not for long.
The end came in the 6th round. The 21-year-old showing real spite in her punches, found the finish, the referee had seen enough at the 1:39 point of the round. Hennessy in retaining her WBC Silver bantamweight title improved her resume to 9-0. De Persio drops to 8-2.
Cherneka Johnson defends her undisputed world bantamweight titles against Dina Thorslund in August. Fran Hennessy will have eyes on the winner. The WBC mandatory could very easily be next.
Photo Credit: Chris Dean/Boxxer
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