Welliver defeats Mensah

In a tougher than expected brawl, WBC and WBO ranked heavyweight contender Chauncy Welliver continued his climb up the world rankings in title defense Saturday for the New Zealand National Boxing Federation (NZNBF) heavyweight title, the WBC Asian Boxing Council heavyweight title and the WBO Asia Pacific heavyweight title in Auckland, New Zealand. Welliver won the fight with a dominant 10th round TKO over Ghana’s Moyoyo Mensah, but the African proved more than willing to brawl with the bigger man in the early rounds. Although Welliver admitted that the fight was “difficult” in the first half for the fight, his size and power began to wear the smaller man down, prompting Mensah to surrender in the tenth round. The fight, which goes down as a tenth round TKO for Welliver, puts him closer to a world title fight in 2012, and exciting development not only for American fight fans in the Pacific Northwest, but also boxing fans in New Zealand, where the popular American has made his second home.

Welliver promises to remain active in the coming months, and hope to position himself into a world title fight by the end of 2012. He is currently ranked #6 by the WBC and #11 by the WBO. With the stoppage Welliver sees his record improve to 52-5-2, 20 KOs. The former cruiserweight contender Mensah drops to 21-9-1, 9 KOs.