Early Results From Bulgaria: Sergey Rabchenko Wins
May 9, 2015 • 2:25 AM ET
By Alexey Sukachev
MORE LIVE RESULTS TO COME...................
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Gymnasium of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Vratsa, Bulgaria - IBF #15 light welterweight Kirill "The Mad Bee" Relikh (19-0, 17 KOs) continued his reign of terror over third-tier opposition at 140 lbs with his tenth consecutive knockout - this time over Brazilian Lazaro Santos de Jesus (14-7, 9 KOs), acquiring a vacant WBA I/C 140lb title in the process.
Relikh, 25, who is in need of serious step up in class, dismantled the Brazilian with impressive ease. He dropped him down in the first via a right hand, then did the same in the second round with the same punch, de Jesus falling face-first and struggling to get into an upright position in infamous Trevor Berbick's style. Amazingly the fight was let go on, and Relikh finally cornered his foe and landed two vicious right bombs. Referee Jean-Louis Legland stepped in to wave it off at 2:59, with Lazaro being very wobbly on his feet.
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With her little daughter watching the fight at ringside, Bulgarian veteran champion Galina Koleva Ivanova resurrected her career once again with a one-sided shutout over previously undefeated Hungarian bantamweight Csilla Nemedi (8-1, 6 KOs) to capture a vacant WBA interim title in front of her fans. Koleva Ivanova dominated the entire fight, dealing much damage to the Hungarian and taking nothing in return. Scores were identical: 100-89 - for the 37-year old veteran of the game.
Another rise of Ivanova came as a minor surprise, as she was held just to a draw against 4-8 opponent just a month ago. Ivanova (now 16-10-4, 2 KOs) has a long history of upsetting the odds. A former two-time European featherweight, and ex-WBA/WBC/WIBF bantamweight and WIBF super flyweight champion has wins over such notables as 17-1-1 Daisy Lang (in 2003), 17-1-1 Esther Schouten (in 2005), and 24-0 Anita Christensen (2008) previously in her career.
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WBC #5 ranked light middleweight Sergey Rabchenko (26-1, 19 KOs) restored some confidence after a bitter split decision loss to Anthony Mundine the last year with the fourth-round stoppage of Argentinean veteran Walter Osvaldo Gaston Calvo (11-7, 7 KOs).
Calvo, 37, was doing his best against Belarussian Rabchenko, 29, staying calm and trying to counter against a faster opponent. Calvo has even done some damage in rounds two and three against his lazy foe but Rabchenko's skill set was visibly better than that of the Latino fighter. The end came early into the fourth when several unanswered punches by Rabchenko coupled with energy issues of Calvo forced his corner to throw in a towel with the Argentinean still throwing punches. Calvo was stopped for the first time in his career.
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Light middleweight Dmitry Atrohov (9-0, 4 KOs) of Belarus easily decisioned game but outclassed Bulgarian Samet Hyuseynov (6-7, 1 KO) over six rounds.
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What had been thought to be an easy warm-up in anticipation of seemingly inevitable world title shot, turned into a hard night for top-rated Kazakh bantamweight Zhanat Zhakiyanov, who suffered a knockdown in round two en route to the sixth-round stoppage of extremely inexperienced Argentinean import Hector Rolando Guzman.
Zhakiyanov, 31, a former European 118lb champion, known for his damaging punching power, was ranked #2 by the WBC, #3 by the WBA, #5 by the WBO and #7 by the IBF, coming into this fight. How about Guzman, 27? He had an undefeated record of 14-0, with 9 KOs, but he debuted only in December 2013, fought all of his bouts at home, and (most importantly) his combined record of opposition was ridiculous 1-14.
Guzman fought exactly like his record suggested, throwing too wide punches, being very unbalanced and showing little skills. However, Zhakiyanov, Ricky Hatton working his corner, didn't look much better, throwing wide looping shots and being visibly set on a knockout win only. He did drop Guzman with a left hook late into the first, but the Argentinean shocked the contender with a massive right cross to deck Zhakiyanov in the second. After an even third round, Zhanat took the initiative and dominated his opponent in the next three rounds, but also showing his own exploits at the same time.
Finally, he caught Guzman with a right hand in the sixth, and dropped him down for the count. Zhakiyanov improved his record to 25-1, 18 KOs, and acquired a vacant WBA international belt. He needs to improve his game in order to match elite opponents in his future.
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Former Ukrainian muay thai standout Fedor Cherkashyn (1-0), competing as a light middleweight, debuted with a quality win over Bulgarian journeyman Yanko Marinov (3-14-1). 19-year old Cherkashin dominated in each round with his swarming fight style, while Marinov did little other than a survival. Scores were 60-54 - across the boards.
