2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Albert Batyrgaziev (4-0, 4 KOs) resumed his pro career in a perfect style, dismantling Italian import Suat Laze in two quick rounds. The fight headlined a nice-packed little event in Ufa, Russia, dedicated to the Day of Bashkortostan, of which Ufa is the capital.
Batyrgaziev, 23, who achieved the top honors in the featherweight division just two months ago, was much bigger and much younger than his 41-year old veteran opponent.
Batyrgaziev showed poise and aggression in the first, forcing Laze to crouch down even lower under fire. The Italy-based Albanian kept his guard high and took his share of punches well but didn’t think a bit about the offensive.
In the second, the southpaw fighter, nicknamed ALBA, jumped at the guest fighter right at the round-starting bell and began to stalk Laze around the ring. The Italian-Albanian bravely tried to retaliate to no avail. Finally, he threw a huge left hook that even tagged Albert a bit but dislocated his left shoulder in doing so. With a grimace of pain, Laze was counted out at 1:57 for the first time in his career.
With the win, Batyrgaziev took a vacant WBO European 126lb belt. Laze is down to 25-8-1, with 7 KOs. The Russian fighter was congratulated by former cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev and ex-WBA heavyweight titlist and fellow Olympic champion Alexander Povetkin.
In the co-feature, another amateur upstart Khariton Agrba (6-0, 3 KOs) overwhelmed fellow undefeated compatriot Andrey Maik (7-1, 1 KO) to a stoppage win in five rounds. There were no knockdowns, just utter dominance of the Abkhazian welterweight switch-hitter, which was felt more and more with each fought round. Maik surrendered in his corner after the fifth one.
The event was promoted by the Dynamo Boxing Promotions, supported by the Parimatch betting company and aired live by the MatchTV.
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