Nikita Tszyu survives scare to defeat Danilo Creati and extend his undefeated record as proud brother Tim watches on

Nikita Tszyu has overcome an awkward mid-fight moment to claim a unanimous points victory over Danilo Creati and retain his Australian super welterweight title at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion.

Tszyu (9-0, 8 KOs) caught Creati (8-2-1, 1 KO) with some powerful left hand shots in the first round of Wednesday’s bout, and the Italian-born challenger had a knockdown scored against him in the second, when his glove hit the canvas.

Under the tutelage of his older brother and former WBO junior middleweight champion Tim, who will reportedly face Vergil Ortiz in August, Nikita emerged victorious with scores of 100-88, 99-90 and 100-89.

Rather, it seemed to be an early evening for the champion as he continued to punish the challenger over the next two rounds after the knockdown, but Creati showed his toughness.

After landing several shots in the fifth, Creati shocked Tszyu with a big right hand in the sixth.

The Australian retained his title with a unanimous points victory in Sydney

He wobbled the champion, but Creati couldn’t follow him and the chance for an upset passed, although the challenger still landed some good one-shots throughout the fight.

“I wasn’t worried, I’ve had it worse in the Hordern, I always get startled here, what about this place?” Tszyu joked.

“It was great to go to 10 laps, it was great to get that experience.”

Tszyu regained the ascendancy in the final rounds and defeated his opponent in the ninth and tenth, but Creati showed tremendous fitness and durability.

Tszyu was taken past the sixth round for the first time and Creati, whose only previous loss was to Michael Zerafa, maintained his proud record of never being stopped as a professional.

Earlier, Malik Zinad became the first Libyan to qualify for a professional world title fight with a stylish performance in his 12-round victory over New Zealander Jerome Pampellone.

ZInad, who improved to 22-0, showed good skills and a strong chin to earn the victory over Pampellone, who lost for the first time in 19 professional fights.

In a WBA women’s super flyweight world title fight, Sydney-based challenger Linn Sandstrom suffered an unanimous points loss to Argentina’s Clara Lescurat.

His proud older brother Tim watched as he achieved an impressive victory

The 35-year-old champion’s brutal body attack and rapid combinations proved too much for the Brazilian-born, Swedish-raised Sandstrom, who was brave but outclassed.

Lescurat, making her fourth successful title defense, won by margins of four, eight and ten points on the judges’ scorecards.

Cesar Mateo Tapia won the WBO Latino middleweight title with a 10-round unanimous decision win over Keiber Gonzalez of Venezuela.

Tapia, born in Mexico, raised in Sydney and living in Florida, improved his record to 17-0 and handed Gonzalez a first professional loss in 21 professional matches.