Historic victory for Tyronne Buttigieg as he wins WBC title belt

Gibraltar this weekend saw another page in its boxing history written by Tyrone Buttigieg. In a packed arena, Gibraltar’s boxer was to come away with his first title fight, the first time a Gibraltarian boxer is known to have earned an international belt on the ring.
With over 450 Gibraltarians packing the San Roque Casino Admiral arena, with the Gibraltar anthem sung by Gibraltar’s own tenor Nathan Payas, it was an emotional night for Mr Buttigieg, who with the majority of the crowd behind him, turned two early rounds in which he was hurt by his opponent into victory by completing the ten round bout and taking away the judge’s decision.
Tyronne Buttigieg, the now WBC Latin Silver Belt Champion was in good spirits on Sunday, just hours after having completed his victory the previous evening. As the tributes and praises rolled in from across the sports community and Gibraltar’s boxing fans Mr Buttigieg was to tell this newspaper, “it was a tough fight, it was tougher than I was expecting, I started by watching the last couple of fights and I started thinking I was going to beat him in more stylish a style than I did. I wanted to excel more than I did and show more of my style.
“But obviously when the fight started and in the first and second round I got hurt so noted that the guy had a lot of power in his hands so I had to fight in a very cautious manner very smart and try not to over commit and no unnecessary risks
“So as the fight went ahead I started to grow in confidence and he started to slow down and I started to take over the second part of the fight and I felt more comfortable in the second part of the fight as he was getting slower and more tired.
“Out of the three judges two of them scored 98 to 92 which is eight rounds to two and the other judge scored 96-94 which is basically six to four which I thought was a bit too tight since I think I won more convincingly than that
“The event was packed there were nearly four hundred Gibraltarians in there with 95% of the tickets sold locally in Gibraltar. Nathan Payas sung the Gibraltar national anthem, so it was quite an emotional moment. We had the minister for Finance Nigel Feetham also there supporting us
“It was a good historic night of boxing, especially coming from a Gibraltarian boxer and I think I am the first Gibraltarian boxer who has managed to complete a full round of professional boxing, I managed to complete the rounds and actually go beyond and actually win an international belt from the World Boxing Council.”
Tyronne Buttigieg was to beat Venezuelan Ernesto Martinez after a six week wait from the previously scheduled bout. The Gibraltar boxer maintaining his 100% record as he writes another page in Gibraltar’s boxing history as the first Gibraltar professional boxer winning an international title belt in his first attempt.

Image supplied by Tyronne Buttigieg courtesy photographer Niel Wilson