By Alexey Sukachev
Sportpalace, Odessa, Ukraine - In clearly the best fight of the night and one of the most entertaining performances on the local scene in 2011, Alexander Spirko (13-0, 7 KOs) was very lucky to win a close unanimous decision over tough-as-nails Tanzanian Selemani Said (10-4-2, 8 KOs) in a fascinating blood-and-guts all-action gun fight for thevacant IBO Youth welterweight belt. Both fighters engaged into a brawl early on and didn't take any steps back for the entire ten-rounder.
Spirko started exceptionally fast but soon got tired and Said began to operate more and more successfully. In round five, however, Spirko landed a huge counter right which forced the badly wobbled African to touch the canvas. Said recovered well and gave hell to Spirko in the next rounds. In the eighth, Spirko was first badly shaken in the corner, and a standing "eight" was issued. Then Said landed a killer punch, which had Spirko face first on the canvas. Miraculously, the local charge survived through a round and a half and came back with vengeance in the tenth and final round. Said was first deducted a point for hitting after the break and then he was knocked down at the ropes with just ten seconds remaining.
After a crowd-pleasing braw, all three judges had it unanimously for Spirko: 95-92, 96-92 and 94-91.
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WBA #6 heavyweight Alexander Ustinov (24-0, 19 KOs) had another successful tune-up with a second-round stoppage of Uzbek spoiler Akmal Aslanov (11-5-1, 7 KOs). Aslanov was knocked down twice in the second before a stoppage
