By Alexey Sukachev
Moscow, Russia - Highly regarded Russian cruiserweight Grigoriy "Pretty Boy" Drozd (38-1, 27 KOs) made a devastating first defense of his European title, stopping French challenger Jeremy Ouanna (14-9, 3 KOs) within a round.
WBC #3, IBF #4, WBA #11 and WBO #12 cruiser Drozd got the job done with a single right hand with 13 secs remaining in the opener. Ouanna has never been stopped before.
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WBC #1 cruiserweight Rakhim Chakhkiev (18-1, 14 KOs) dismantled rugged Finnish contender Juho Haapoja (20-5-1, 13 KOs) in nine rounds to acquire a vacant WBC Silver title.
After the slow first round, 2008 Olympic heavyweight gold medalist dropped Haapoja with a right-left combo. Haapoja fought on but was concentrated mostly on the defensive ever since. Chakhkiev, also rated #5 by the IBF, hasn't looked like a monstrous puncher of the past but easily outboxed Haapoja in each round, though Haapoja had his short stint of success in the seventh.
Scores were 80-71 on all three judges' scorecards. The end came early into the ninth after a wicked left hand by southpaw Chakhkiev. Haapoja took a knee, beat the count but was too dazed to go on. Referee Anssi Perajoki waved it off at 0:26 of the round.
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In a bid for a vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council, former heavyweight prospect Maxim Maslov (13-1-1, 8 KOs) outgunned feather-fisted Azerbaijani Anar Mammadov (6-2) over twelve with lopsided scores 120-109 (twice) and 120-108. Maslov rocked Mammadov several times but was unable to get his job done.
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Light heavyweight gun Sergey Ekimov (9-0, 3 KOs) eked out a workmanlike unanimous decision over eight against tough Welsh journeyman Nathan King (13-22, 1 KO). The fight was quite even but Ekimov was slightly better in every round. Boxingscene had it 78-74 - for the Russian.
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Welterweight Mikhail Smirnov (6-0, 3 KOs) dominated Tajik import Davronchon Mamedov (exact record unknown) with a unanimous decision over six rounds.
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Debuting super bantamweight Evgueny Smirnov (1-0, 1 KO) got the better of Vladislav Sagalakov (2-12, 1 KO) in two rounds.