Tatli Named As Official To Patera vs Mendy

Edis Tatli lost his EBU lightweight title by a controversial split decision to Francesco Patera last Saturday in Turku, Finland. The Finnish press, spectators and Tatli’s camp were all dumbfounded by the verdict.

Soon after the fight Tatli’s coach Pekka Mäki filed a formal claim demanding an immediate rematch. Mäki based the claim on EBU’s fundamentals for scoring: "Effective aggressiveness is the most important factor for winning a round. The scoring of clean punches with power, number and accuracy, whether moving forward, backwards, boxing sideways against the ropes or counter punching," judges are instructed on EBU’s website.

In Tatli v. Patera fight it was Patera who was the more active of the two, but most of his punches were blocked. Tatli on the other hand scored the cleanest and hardest shots of the fight and was never in trouble in the ring.

EBU board rejected Mäki’s claim and named Yvan Mendy as Patera’s official challenger. EBU did however name Tatli as the official challenger for the winner of Patera v. Mendy fight.

"This feels like EBU symphatized with our claim that Patera’s split decision victory was a bad call," says Pekka Mäki.

Tatli says that he’s itching for another title shot – and specially a rematch with Patera. Last weekend’s strange outcome angered the Finnish fighter deeply.

"I’m going to punch him out of the ring the next time I’ll meet him," Tatli says. "I’m going to make sure I’ll knock him out next time."

Tatli v. Patera has been made available at Dominus Boxing Group’s official