WBA bantamweight champion Anselmo “Chemito” Moreno (27-1-1, 9 KOs) successfully defended his title against challenger Frederic Patrac (26-8-1, 13 KOs) of France by eleventh round TKO. The bout took place in Patrac’s homeland of Agde, France. Moreno took control from the opening bell sticking his right jab in the Frenchman’s face from his southpaw stance followed with the straight left. Though the fight wasn’t fought toe to toe it was fought at reasonably close quarters as Moreno simply turned the oncharging Patrac at will, slipping most shots thrown at him. The few punches the Frenchman was able to land cleanly the fans screamed enthusiastically. Things turned for the worst for Patrac in round eight when Moreno hurt him with a serious of headshots and it appeared that the referee Mark Nelson might stop the bout but the bell saved the Frenchman. Though he wasn’t anywhere near the same trouble as in round eight, rounds nine and ten were more punishing rounds for Patrac as Moreno was now hurting him to the body as well. The eleventh and final round was a painful one for Patrac as Moreno raked his body with a regularly mixing it with uppercuts and straight lefts. The referee stopped the bout while Moreno was working Patrac over in the corner.

Anselmo Moreno of Panama has retained his WBA bantamweight title with a split decision over Mahyar Monshipour of France. Moreno (26-1-1) kept his composure Saturday as Monshipour pressured strongly between the eighth and 10th rounds. Two of the judges scored the bout 116-113 and 116-112 in favor of Moreno, while the third gave the fight to Monshipour 115-113. Moreno, whose only loss was in 2002, started strongly, catching Monshipour with a left hook in the first round a several sharp jabs in the second.

The Panamanian got caught with a couple of shots, but used his speed and longer reach to keep the Monshipour at bay. The Frenchman fought back beginning in the eighth round, and the crowd at Poitier’s Parc des Expositions were on their feet in the 11th as Monshipour kept charging forward gamely. Moreno stayed calm and picked him off, and the fighter nicknamed “Little Tyson” could not land enough clean punches to catch up on the scorecards.

The 34-year-old Monshipour (31-4-2) returned to boxing in December, nearly three years after losing his super bantamweight title to Thailand’s Somsak Sithchatchawal in a brutal fight in March 2006.

Prior to his defeat, Monshipour’s comeback had seen him win all three of his fights against Emiliano Salvini of Italy, Britain’s Sean Hughes and Venezuela’s Felix Machado.