Zac Dunn decisions Liam Cameron to lift Commonwealth title

A determined Zac Dunn powered his way to history, becoming the first Australian to lift the Commonwealth super middleweight title in 26 years with an unanimous points decision over Liam Cameron on Friday night.

Dunn (now 23-0, 18 KOs) was more aggressive than usual, as he looked to make a statement against the self-assured Cameron (now 19-5, 7 KOs) who had plenty to say about Dunn in the build-up to their fight. The Melburnian was able to dominate large stretches of rounds with short looping hooks and uppercuts on the inside.

A game Cameron, 26, attempted to lure Dunn off his game by pressing forward and lunging with his favoured lead uppercut. Although he initiated the action early, Cameron had difficult maintaining a consistent attack and often found himself pressed against the ropes, affording Dunn multiple opportunities to continually let his hands go.

The Sheffield native was able to smother most of Dunn’s best work, catching most of the Australian’s bigger shots on his gloves, forearms and shoulders.

Although Cameron had fleeting success with singular counters, Dunn dictated the pace of the fight. As the contest wore on, a measured Dunn became somewhat reckless, but finished the majority of the rounds strong with series of powerful combinations that clearly effected a tiring and discouraged Cameron.

There was an air of confusion at the end of the twelve rounds when emcee Matthew Pillios incorrectly announced the verdict as a majority decision, despite reading the scores unanimously as 117-111, 116-112 and an inexcusable 115-113.

“He was a tough boxer and he moved around good,” said Dunn in his post-fight interview. “I was looking for the knockout early, but sometimes when you look for the knockout, it doesn’t come.”

“I went back to my boxing and started enjoying my rounds. It was a good win and a good way to finish the year – next year is a new year – last year I didn’t get a break over Christmas, but this year I will. I’m looking forward to 2017.”

Dunn becomes the first Australian to lift the Commonwealth super middleweight title since the celebrated Rod Carr, who won the belt with a fourth round knockout over Ghanian Ray Acquaye in 1989.