By Alexey Sukachev

WBA “Regular” light welterweight champion “King” Khabib Allakhverdiev (19-0, 9 KOs) had just one fight in 2013, stopping veteran Frenchman Souleymane M’Baye over eleven rounds in July. It looks like the coming year will be much busier for the Ring #8 ranked 140lber.

According to Shafidin, Khabib’s brother and his personal coach, the 30-year old champion will fight next on April 12 in Las Vegas, Nevada, as a part of a big Top Rank-promoted show, which will be crowned with another fight of Manny Pacquiao. No opponent was named by Shafidin.

Later on, Khabib’s manager and notorious Russian boxing guru Vladimir Hryunov confirmed to Allboxing.ru that the opponent will be quite a known person in boxing.

“Khabib will fly over to Vegas in February. He will head there to continue his training camp in America”, said Hryunov. “I’ve recently talked to Bob Arum, and he confirmed me that (if everything is okay) Khabib will fight three times in 2014 – once in April, then in summer and then, most probably, in November”.

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Highly regarded cruiserweight contender Grigory “Pretty Boy” Drozd (37-1, 26 KOs), a major factor in the division over the last ten years, made a significant change in his career by becoming the first fighter to sign with Andrey Ryabinskiy’s “World of Boxing” promotional company. Drozd, 34, struck the deal the last week.

Andrey Ryabinskiy is best known to be the one to stage an almost mythical Eastern European heavyweight match-up between Super WBA / IBF / WBO and IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and WBA champion Alexander Povetkin two months ago.

Ryabinksiy won the purse bid with a colossal offer over 23 millions of USD. The Russian boxing tycoon has also staged two other notable match-ups: Guillermo Jones vs. Denis Lebedev in May, and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk vs. Rakhim Chakhkiev in June.

WBC/IBF #3, WBA #4 and WBO #7 cruiserweight Drozd got one of his biggest career wins in the undercard of Klitschko vs. Povetkin, stopping 30-0 Pole Mateusz Masternak in eleven rounds to capture Masternak’s European title. Drozd will defend it for the first time on March 15 in Moscow against French cruiserweight champion Jeremy Ouanna (14-8, 3 KOs). The fight will be the main event of the show, staged by the “World of Boxing”. Drozd hopes to get a long awaited shot at the title during the next year with the help of Andrey Ryabinksiy.

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On Nov. 30, a familiar face was seen in one of European rings for the first time in over five years. Former WBA/WBO #1 rated lightweight Yuri Romanov, who is best known for a streak of massive upsets against notable British favorites (Steve Murray, Bobbie Vanzie, Steve Conway) and a two-year long stint as the European lightweight champion, came back after his January loss to Jeremy Bryan (MD 8) in Miami, Florida, to convincingly outpoint Russian trialhorse Ravil Mukhamadiarov (10-52-2, 8 KOs) over eight in Pskov, Russia. Scores were identical: 90-81 – for Romanov, still 31. Ravil was down in the second round. Yuri has fought just twice (once in 2011 and once in 2013) since his last EBU defense Jon Thaxton in April 2008, being stuck in limbo after signing with Don King.

On the same night, Russian cruiserweight champion Andrey Knyazev (9-1, 4 KOs) has been soundly upset by unheralded Belarussian Yuri Byhovtsev (7-5-2, 5 KOs) over six non-title rounds. Knyazev looked sluggish and undetermined to lose with a unanimous decision. Scores were: 58-56, 59-57 and 58-57 – all for the Belarussian import.
Also, Artur Akavov (9-1, 1 KOs), who hasn’t been previously known as a murderous puncher, has somehow knocked out former Russian and European contender Marat Khuzeev (20-8-1, 8 KOs) in just 75 seconds. Khuzeev looks totally shot. He was blitzed in one in his second fight in a row. Igor Sudelainen promoted the event.

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On Nov. 30, three locally known fighters came back after long periods of inactivity in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The event was promoted by German Titov.

Former BBU and Russian light heavyweight champion Vasily Lepikhin (15-0, 8 KOs), who was out of the ring between May 2010 and April 2013 for medical issues, scored his third KO 1 victory in a row. Lepikhin, 28, knocked out former heavyweight journeyman Alexey Varakin (28-19-3, 16 KOs), who was fighting at his lowest weight in professional career.

Welterweight Dmitry “Southern” Mikhailenko (15-0, 6 KOs) stopped game Ukrainian Bogdan Protsyshyn (7-8, 2 KOs) in three rounds. Mikhailenko last fought in April 2012. Also, featherweight Andrey Isaev (24-4, 7 KOs) outpointed Tajik Suhrob Usmonov (4-12) over six rounds. Scores were: 59-55 (x2) and 58-55 – for Isaev. Usmonov was down in the second round.

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Igor Ivanov (8-0, 2 KOs), a former amateur standout from Cheboksary, acquired a vacant Russian lightweight title by outpointing overmatched Alexey Tukhtarov (3-2-2, 3 KOs) unanimously over ten rounds with the scores: 100-89 (twice) and 100-90. The fight was held on Friday, Dec. 6, at the Renaissance Hotel in Ivanov’s hometown and was promoted by Alexander Petrov.

Ivanov’s close friend Konstantin Piternov (15-4, 6 KOs) erased bad memories of his loss to Ismayl Sillakh in August by stopping journeyman Sergey Beloshapkin (10-9-1, 3 KOs) after six fought rounds.