Rematch between Fress and Xhoxhaj ends in a draw

The rematch between Roman Fress (23-1-1) and Armend Xhoxhaj (23-4-1) on Saturday night in Magdeburg, ended in a draw.

Fight was as WBO eliminator. Winner was supposed to be mandatory challenger of unified champion David Benavidez.  

Fight was WBO Inter-Continental, WBO International and WBO European cruiserweight titles.

Xhoxhaj dropped Fress twice in round three, and he thought he did enough to win. But in the end was a split draw. One judge scored the fight 116:112 for Fress, one scored 114:112 for Xhoxhaj and one scored as draw.

“I was better. I dominated all the rounds”, Xhoxhaj said.

Promoter Ulf Steinforth was also not happy with result. Both fighters are part of his promotion.

“A result like this doesn’t bring us forward. Now we must wait the ranking of WBO next month”, said Steinforth.

In the first fight between them, in May 2022, Xhoxhaj won via split decision.