By Anton Gorunov (ringside) and Alexey Sukachev

Victoria Olshana, a female newcomer to the European promotional scene, staged a huge (by present-day Ukrainian standards) local show at the AKKO International in Kiev, Ukraine, with a number of locally known fighters taking their parts in. One man, however, was different, stood out - as always in his career - as a specific proposition for boxing-hungry local aficionados from the world boxing scene, and attracted extra attention to the show.

Viktor Postol, a former WBC light welterweight champion, known for his kayo wins over Selcuk Aydin and Lucas Matthysse, was expected to get an easy win over previously undefeated yet untested Uzbek Jamshidbek Najmiddinov. He got what he had wished for - a victory - but it was much harder than he expected.

Sensing he is there to take a beating, Najmiddinov, fighting for the first tine out of his native land, was moving and running rather than fighting. Postol was using his straight right hands to control the Uzbek, while the latter tried to catch Postol with hard swings. The Uzbek had been missing them all up until the fifth when one of his left hooks put Postol down hard. The Ukrainian got up but was wobbly and was lucky to survive the subsequent onslaught.

However, from round sixth Postol slowly got back to his usual self and dominated the rest of the fight over  theovercautious Uzbek. All three judges awarded the fight to Postol: 98-92, 97-92, and 97-92, but the Ukrainian was on the brink of a kayo loss. Jamshidbek Najmiddinov drops down to 14-1, 9 KOs, while WBC #4 rated Postol, 33, improves to 29-1, 12 KOs.

Undercard

In another featured bout of the night, 21-year old local Armenian Karen Chukhadzhyan (10-1, 5 KOs) acquired a vacant WBO Youth welterweight title with a frightful kayo of previously undefeated Hollander Steve Suppan (7-1-1, 4 KOs). Chukhadzhyan was clearly the better of the two, still the end came as a relative surprise. Chukhadzyan landed a picture-perfect left hook to the jaw, which had Suppan, 23, down and out instantly. The Hollander was able to get up only after several scary minutes of waiting.

Fighting for the second time in 2017, Cherkassy-based Georgian Mishiko Beselia easily outboxed Spain-based Panamanian Aristides Quintero (20-9-1, 17 KOs) over eight rounds. Quintero was down in the second round, outboxed, outfought and lost a one-sided unanimous decision over eight: 80-71, 80-72, and 79-72. Beselia improves to 16-0, 11 KOs.

Lightweight Denis Berinchik, 2011 World championship and 2012 London Olympics silver medalist, as well as an integral part of the Ukraine's best pugilistic generation ever, used his hard, debilitating single right hands to batter upset-minded Spaniard Ismael Garcia (8-2, 3 KOs). Garcia's nose was badly damaged and dripped with blood, forcing referee to ask for ringside physician twice over the course of the bout. Garcia retired on his stool after the sixth. Berinchik improves to 7-0, 4 KOs.

Aram Fanian (11-0, 1 KO) isn't exactly Edwin Valero or Gennady Golovkin, yet he is capable of winning his own way - by boxing, weaving and hitting. This time Fanian won a workmanlike eight-round decision over Russian entertainer Alexander Kotov (6-4-1, 3 KOs), known for his take-no-prisoners approach. Scores were: 80-72, 80-73, and 79-73 - for Fanian.

WBO #6 featherweight Oleg Malinovskiy was - as he always is - very effective and equally boring in winning a one-sided unanimous decision over Mexican Alexander Cazares (15-9, 6 KOs), whose record is worse than his skills are. Scores were: 80-72 and 79-73 (x2).

Hard-hitting Ukrainian light middleweight Stanislav Skorokhod (15-1, 12 KOs), best known for his participation in 2015 Boxcino tournament, made a short work of overmatched Georgian Giorgi Jincharadze (13-7, 7 KOs). Jincharaze was down twice in the third - after a right cross and a right hook to the body.

In an opener, super middleweight Andriy Velikovskiy (10-2, 5 KOs) threw and conntected with a lethal left hook to the liver to get the rid of Georgian Tornike Gikashvili (14-7-1, 2 KOs). Gikashvili lost his fifth straight fight.