Sakio Bika defeated Marco Antonio Periban by a majority decision to win the vacant WBC super middleweight title in an entertaining brawl on the Adrien Broner-Paulie Malignaggi card Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The scores were 114-114, 116-112 and 115-113. RingTV.com had it 114-114.

Bika (32-5-2, 21 knockouts) had failed in three previous attempts to win a major 168-pound title.

The fight was more about heart than skill, as the fighters exchanged hard, often wild punches from beginning to end. It also was extremely difficult to score, as neither fighter dominated any round.

The punch stats support that notion: Bika landed 176 of 635, Periban 168 of 579.

Neither Bika nor Periban (20-1, 13 KOs) went down but the punishment seemed to take a toll by the wild 12^th round, in which the dead-tired fighters exchanged punches furiously for most of the three minutes.

A full report will follow shortly.