By Alexey Sukachev

Moscow is leisurely preparing for its hugest promotion in several months, which will be held on Sunday, May 23, on the legendary Red Square, an epitome of national statehood and one of the most known Muscovite symbols. The show, which will be arranged by several well-known Russian promoters under the aegis of the Ural Boxing Promotion and with the help of “Ready for Labour and Defense of Russia” military-sportive foundation, will feature at least three title twelve-rounders and no less than eleven fights during a lengthy, competitive tournament, which is set to have a free admission.

Headlining the event, will be highly regarded Kazakh welterweight Vitaly Demyanenko (18-0, 11 KOs), who is represented by Yuri Fedorov Sports Lab. WBO #7, WBC #9 and WBA #10 ranked converted southpaw was reportedly in negotiations with Team Judah for a possible match-up with three-time, two-division world champion; yet he is getting ready now to take a lighter opponent in WBO #15 Melbourne-based Cameroonian Samuel Colomban (16-3, 8 KOs). PABA welterweight title, held by Demyanenko, has already been confirmed to be at stake for this bout; Demyanenko also owns WBC Asian Boxing Council and WBO Asia Pacific 147lb belts, while Colomban is a WBO Oriental titlist in the same weight class.

Demyanenko, the son of 1980 Moscow Olympics silver medalist Victor Demyanenko, is coming off a recent sweep of tough Argentinean Jorge Daniel Miranda in February. He is also known for American fans having won twice overseas in 2008 (against Marteze Logan) and in 2009 (against Paul Delgado). Colomban, who suffered several setbacks two years ago, enjoys a six-bout winning streak, which includes wins over former world champion Philip Holiday and gutsy veteran Guillermo Mosquera.

Another title twelve-rounder will pit two Russian light welterweights against each other as unbeaten “King” Khabib Allakhverdiev (11-0, 6 KOs) takes on Karen Tevosyan (14-1-3, 9 KOs) for a vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council 140lb title. To confirm this fight Tevosyan will firstly need to get the rid of rugged Rustam Shidginov (3-4, 1 KO) on May 15 in Kabardinka, Russia. Allakhverdiev, promoted by Yuri Fedorov, is a former amateur standout with the 2005 World Amateur Championship bronze medal to his resume.
WBC CISBB titlist and reigning Russian junior middleweight champion Timur Nergadze (13-1-1, 2 KOs), who is best known for his two-fight rivalry against a failed (due to visa issues) world title challenger Sherzod Husanov, is taking on 22-year old Kazakh standout Vladislav Savchenko (11-0, 7 KOs) for a vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council light middleweight title.

Another fighter can become a sudden headliner of the entire tournament. Well-known Uzbek heavyweight Timur Ibragimov (27-2-1, 15 KOs) is on his way to enter the roster but his participation is still not confirmed officially. If Ibragimov is indeed to enter the show, he will take part in yet another twelve-rounder.

Eight more collisions are pre-planned for the tourney. Hard-hitting light heavyweight Roman Simakov (11-1-1, 6 KOs) goes ten against Ghanaian Neuwied resident Ben Nsafoah (8-2-2, 4 KOs). Rising junior welterweight Andrey Klimov (7-0, 3 KOs) is scheduled for eight versus journeyman Alexander Saltykov (8-20-3, 5 KOs), while featherweight Aslanbek Tlatov (3-0, 1 KO) is set for eight against Sergey Yurovskikh (6-8-2, 1 KO).

Several more fighters will take part in the tournament including: Evgueny Khil (5-3-1), Ruslan Khayrtdinov (4-0, 2 KOs), Uralbek Esenkulov (1-0, 1 KO), Nikolay Potapov (1-0, 1 KO) and Oleg Mokan (1-0) in separate fights.

The entire show will be arranged by the Ural Boxing Promotions (President Evgueny Vainshtein and matchmaker Alexey Vasilyev). Several other promoters will contribute, including Kirill Pchelnikov, Yuri Fedorov Sports Lab, Union Boxing Management and FIGHTER promotional group. Multi-champion Natasha Ragozina and ex-WBA world heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev are expected to visit the promotion.

This tournament will not be the first ever promotion on Red Square. Yuri Fedorov already staged one in September 2008, which featured Oleg Maskaev and Timur Ibragimov among others. Ural Boxing Promotions itself made some accolades in 2009 by staging the same kind of event in the very heart of Moscow. This time, as usual, the entire show will be a part of the VI annual military-sportive forum, which will also feature a number of different sports competitions.

The entrance is free for all and a major crowd is expected to visit an open-air boxing card and other sportive festivities. The tournament starts approximately at 10:30 AM. Reporters can send their credentials to esuchinova@360sca.ru (press officer Ekaterina Suchinova) or contact her by the phone number: +7-926-573-32-32.