 Fighting in Cantatore's native Italy, Braithwaite was able to weather several onslaughts by his opponent, as well as questionable calls by the referee, en route to a tenth-round stoppage victory.This made Braithwaite only the second boxer from Guyana to win a world title.He successfully defended the title three times, reaching the rank of world's #1 cruiserweight by "The Ring" magazine during 2003–05.