By Elisinio Castillo

Frenchman Michel Soro, third in the WBA rankings, won the vacant interim-WBA super welterweight title by defeating US contender John Vera (# 2 WBA) with a 12-round unanimous decision, on Saturday in one of the main fights of a card that took place in the Palace of Sports in Marseille, France

Vera, 29, suffered his first loss in 19 matches, but his courage was hailed by the crowded. Going down in rounds 7 and 10, he ended up standing at the end of the fight. After a few rounds of study, Soro imposed a lot of pressure and did not stop advancing on his opponent.

The victory of Soro, who is trained by veteran coach Abel Sanchez, was wide on the cards with tallies of 118-109, 120-107 and 119-108.

With the victory, Soro improved his record to 32-2, with 21 knockouts, while Vera saw his record fall to 18-1, with 11 knockouts.

For Soro, this victory means one more step in search of a rematch against undefeated Argentinean Brian Castano, the regular WBA super welterweight champion, against whom the French boxer lost to in July of last year.

"I am happy to have been able to get this belt after two failures. The road does not stop here, it is only one step away... now I want my revenge against Castano. I lost against him, he is a very good fighter, I want to prove to myself and to France that we can have a true world champion," said Soro.

Also on the card, French-Armenian Arsen Goulamirian won the vacant 'regular' world cruiserweight title of the World Boxing Association (WBA), knocking out Belgian Ryad Merh in round 11, in the main battle of this card.

Goulamirian, unbeaten in twenty-two matches, won the most important victory of his career, because in addition to winning the WBA cruiserweight title, he became the first Frenchman to win a world title since Jean-Marc Mormeck.

After the triumph, Goulamirian was fascinated in the ring of a crowded Marseille Sports Palace, which had not seen a fight of this level for 11 years, and which also applauded the local stars, by singing between the fights.

"Work pays," shouted the new world champion, greeting the public of Marseille and his opponent.

With this success, Goulamirian improved his record to 23-.0, with 15 knockouts, while Merhy fell to 24-1, with 20 knockouts.