Welterweight Souleymane Cissokho survived two knockdowns to edge Egidijus Kavaliauskas in a title eliminator on Saturday at the Centre de Conference de Sipopo in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

Cissokho won a unanimous decision with scores of 114-112, 115-111 and 116-110.

The first round saw both fighters cautious, with Cissokho circling the ring while each sought to establish their jabs. In Round 2, Kavaliauskas continued pressing forward, forcing Cissokho to expend significant early energy moving around the ring. A left hook from Kavaliauskas dropped Cissokho at the end of the second round. 

Subsequent rounds saw Kavaliauskas, trained by Marco Contreras, moving forward persistently, though not always landing punches effectively, as Cissokho proved elusive while landing stinging jabs.

At the start of the fifth round, Kavaliauskas landed a short left uppercut to Cissokho’s head, sending him tumbling out of the ring. Cissokho beat the count but appeared dazed, yet somehow he made it out of the round. 

In the sixth, Cissokho rebounded by outboxing Kavaliauskas, winning the round after his worst round of the fight. In the seventh, Kavaliauskas staggered Cissokho but found himself outworked again. 

Cissokho, trained by Virgil Hunter, was unwilling to be trapped on the ropes. Sensing a close fight, Kavaliauskas started the eighth round as the aggressor and regained momentum. 

In the ninth, Cissokho became even more elusive, as Kavaliauskas couldn’t repeat his earlier success. Rounds began to blur together in Cissokho’s favor. In the final round, Kavaliauskas charged forward, looking to make something happen, while Cissokho avoided him well. Cissokho’s composure led to the biggest win of his career. 

Cissokho improves to 18-0 (9 KOs), as the 33-year-old boxer, who was a 2016 Olympian representing France, is now the mandatory challenger for WBC welterweight titleholder Mario Barrios’ belt. Barrios has been rumored to face 46-year-old legend Manny Pacquiao in July.

Kavaliauskas, now 24-3-1 (19 KOs), is 36 years old and a 2008 and 2012 Olympian from Lithuania. He suffers a frustrating defeat, seeing his two-fight win streak snapped despite flooring his opponent twice. 

On the undercard, Nico Ali Walsh defeated Ebenezer Sowah by majority decision, with the scores reading 59-55, 58-56 and 57-57.