By Kamel Messani

In his the first defense of the European featherweight title, French boxer Sofiane Takoucht (21-2, 9 KO) lost a close twelve round split decision to Belgian Alex Miskirtchian (20-2-1, 7 KO) at the Hall Bois Crance in Charleville Maizières. It took

The battle started at a high pace, without a feeling out process. Takoucht extending his arm to keep the Belgian at a distance. The defending champion did not, however, managed to free himself from the hard pace of his opponenyt. The defending champ was the much better technician, and boxed in small spurts with both hands. However, the Belgian was landing hard hooks to the body and hard.

The fourth round was a turning point in the struggle: Sofiane obviously was having physical problems with the opponent's offensive, and his mouth was wide open with the desire to find a second wind. The following rounds were substantially similar, the young French boxer was not having a good night, but he managed to do some good work in the later rounds with his technical skills. Miskirtchian finally resumed his march in the championship rounds, and dominated the final two stanzas.

The first judge scored it 115-113 for the champion, but he was overruled by the other two scorecards, with 115-113 and 115-114 in favor of the challenger.