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Blake Caparello cruises to shutout win over Maximiliano Gomez

 
BLAKE Caparello erased the memory of his world title loss to Sergey Kovalev, returning to Melbourne with a clear-cut unanimous points decision over durable Argentine Maximiliano Jorge Gomez.

 
Caparello, 28, put a recent elbow injury behind him to easily outpoint Gomez over ten rounds, picking up the vacant WBO Asia Pacific light heavyweight title in the process.

 
Judges Wayne Ashdown, Mark Cook and Alan McColl all rendered the same verdict, 100-90 in favour of the Greenvale-based Caparello.

 
“It felt good – you know me – I like my defence,” said Caparello in an exclusive interview with Aus-Boxing.

 
In a performance that oozed confidence, Caparello dominated from the opening bell, fighting with an ugly gash courtesy of a head clash early in the fight. To his credit, Caparello fought diligently for the entirety of the ten round fight and didn’t let Gomez into the contest at any stage.

 
“I hurt my left wrist early on in the fight and then I had the head clash, I just battled through it. I think my corner did a good job on the cut,”

 
“I just wanted to go out there and show everyone what I can do. I got the rounds in so it was good,”

 
“I would’ve obviously liked to get the knockout, it didn’t happen,” Caparello explained. “He was a tough opponent but he was there to survive; he didn’t throw too many punches back. It’s just good to be back.”

 
“It was really good to get the rounds in, I fixed up a few little things,”

 
Caparello (now 20-1-1, 6 KOs) proved yet again why he is largely considered as one of Australia’s best defensive practitioners. The talented southpaw easily turned back the challenge of Gomez (15-4, 7 KOs), neutralising the Argentine’s height and reach, using angles to confuse the defensive-minded Gomez.

 
Despite putting together a polished performance, Caparello believes that there is still room for improvement. As for his next fight, Caparello just wants to remain active.

 
“I need to double up a little more and get my way in, my defence is still a work in progress,” he continued. “You should see me pretty early on, maybe around March next year, we just want to get the fights in. We’re looking for some good fights and we’ll see what gets offered as well,”

 
With the win, Caparello will return to the top-fifteen within the WBO, making future fights abroad a big possibility.

 
Using his lone career blemish as motivation, Caparello is looking to return to the top of the WBO’s pecking order, in the hope of an eventual rematch with unified WBO/IBF/WBA light heavyweight titleholder, Sergey Kovalev.

 
“This puts me back in the top fifteen ratings and now I’ll just keep defending. I want to fight Kovalev again – I don’t care – I’ll put it out there again,”

 
“People would say stay away because they think ‘second round stoppage’, but I believe in my boxing ability,” Caparello said. “You re-watch the first round and a half, I can out box him.”

 
“I got caught with a shot and that’s experience,”

 
“People would’ve seen how he beat up Bernard (Hopkins) pretty easy, I just want to work my way back up to Kovalev. Because he’s the best, that’s who I want to fight. I’m not going to duck him.”

 
“If they offered me the rematch tomorrow I’d take it, I’m that confident.”

 
“I made a minor mistake and at that level you can’t make a mistake. I’m ready. I know I’ve got to work my way back up, but there are some good fights,” Caparello stated. “There is Beibut Shumenov, Isaac Chilemba and even Jean Pascal, they all want to get back up there as well.”

 
“There are a lot of good fights to happen in the light heavyweight division,”

 
“I know my name has been thrown around in the US a fair bit. If there is something there to fight for, we’ll fight,” said Caparello in closing. “We have a WBO belt and a top fifteen rating so it’s onwards and upwards from here.”

 
 
Photo: Adam Auld/Aus-Boxing
 

 

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