Artur Subkhankulov defeated Tigran Uzlyan in an action-packed 10-round unanimous decision in the main event Friday night at MEЛБET IBA Pro 9 in Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia.
Hometown hero Subkhankulov, 10-0 (4 KOs), boxed intelligently out of the southpaw stance, remaining one step ahead of the game against Uzlyan, 12-2 (6 KOs). Subkhankulov’s ring intelligence helped him cruise home to a points victory in-front of a lively home crowd.
Despite suffering an injury to his right eye in the fourth round, Subkhankulov continued to pile up the points against the advancing Uzlyan, utilizing his superior footwork and precision punching to slowly break his opponent down as the rounds progressed.
While a final round onslaught from Subkhankulov almost secured a dramatic late finish, the dogged Uzlyan managed to survive until the final bell.
With scores of 97-93 and 98-92, twice, Subkhankulov booked arguably the standout win of his career so far. The 33-year-old is ranked at #7 in the IBF lightweight rankings.
In the chief support of the evening, welterweight Azalia Amineva delivered a career-best performance to outpoint Neslihan Mollaoglu over six rounds in the IBA Pro format.
Despite dominating for large periods of the bout - including scoring a fourth round knockdown - there would be no stoppage victory for Amineva, with the 22-year-old instead settling for a lopsided decision win on the cards.
Super middleweight contender Pavel Silyagin continued his march towards a world title shot with a comprehensive six round decision win over Venezuelan puncher Keiber Gonzalez.
After overcoming a nasty bout of sickness during fight week, Silyagin showed no ill effects in producing a dominant display to shut Gonzalez out on the scorecards.
In a clash of unbeaten welterweights, Ufa’s Danis Gabdrafikov showcased his sizzling hand speed as he overwhelmed Kazakh visitor Temirzhan Baimolda to win via impressive second-round TKO.
Beloretsk’s Bekkhan Israilov outpointed Iran’s Iman Ramezanpour over six rounds in a largely-competitive IBA Pro bout in the heavyweight division.
18-year-old Uzbek talent Khalimjon Mamasoliev scored an emphatic second round TKO of Yaroslav Shkutyak in their IBA Pro heavyweight contest.
IBA Pro CEO Al Siesta said: “What a terrific night of action here in Ufa. Artur Subkhankulov proved that he is ready for the next step in the lightweight division with the most important performance of his career. We also had Pavel Silyagin - who was very sick this week - and he performed very well against a dangerous opponent in Keiber Gonzalez. Overall I am thrilled with the night and, most importantly, the fans in Ufa go home happy!”
