SZPILKA DEMOLISHES BASILE IN FOUR ROUNDS

Bydgoszcz, Poland - Heavyweight prospect Artur Szpilka (11-0, 9KOs) stopped Gonzalo Omar Basile (54-7, 25KOs) in four rounds to capture the vacant WBC Baltic silver title on Saturday. Basile was down twice in the second round and once in the third and fourth. First round wasn't really entertaining - Szpilka couldn't find the perfect distance while ''El Paton'' was passive. ''The Pin'' exploded with three successive lefts in the second but he was overly aggressive and referee deducted one point for hitting while Basile was lying on canvas. 43 seconds before the end of this round Argentinian giant was down again but he lived on till the bell. Third stanza brought another knockdown and survival mode of Basile was fully on. The end came in the fourth - Szpilka's straight left (definitely his best weapon) sent ''El Paton'' on the ground once more. Basile didn't want to continue and was counted out by Daniel Van de Wiele. Szpilka wasn't boxing at all. He just wanted to hurt his opponent, forgetting about defense and setting up shots so there's a long way to world title for great Polish hope.

The most interesting fight of the night was Andrzej Wawrzyk's (26-0, 13KOs) ten round unanimous decision win over veteran Denis Bakhtov (35-8, 24KOs). The bout wasn't easy for Polish youngster, Bakhtov didn't come to lose. He pressed and tried but couldn't do enough to change the tide of the battle, although he came close in two rounds - first and eighth, when Wawrzyk was down after powerful left hooks. The Pole showed a lot of grit, both times managing to get himself togehter. Wawrzyk came back to his sound fundamentals and prevailed by using good straight shots combos and nice footwork, although his defense was leaky at too many times. The three judges scored it 97-93, 99-92 and 98-93. That which doesn't kill me, will make me stronger - Andrzej should learn from that lesson to break into HW top ten soon.