By Alexey Sukachev
Russia - In a non-title fight, very hard-hitting but also vulnerable Russian kayo artist Eduard Troyanovskiy (22-0, 19 KOs) stopped Filipino import Ronald Pontillas (17-8-3, 8 KOs) in three rounds.
Troyanovskiy, 35, is a reigning IBO light welterweight champion, while Pontillas, 25, a former OPBF super featherweight titleholder, jumped to a new weight class. Troyanovskiy started aggressively - as always - but soon was hit hard with an overhand left by a southpaw Filipino. Ponitllas took Eduard's punch well in the first and countered him dangerously from the outside.
In the second, the Russian fighter tried to impose his will on Pontillas and got some limited success, which turned into much greater success as experienced referee Alexander Kalinkin issued two questionable knockdowns in his favor in what seemed to be more of a slip and a push. In the meantime, Troyanovskiy landed another left hand bomb to have his foe slightly rocked at the end of the round.
There were no questions regarding legitimacy of the third knockdown after a major right hand by the Russian, which put the Asian import down on his pants and for the full count during the third.
Official time was 1:53 of the third. Troyanovskiy is now 22-0, 19 KOs, and 12 stoppages wins in a row since the beginning of 2012.
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Russian heavyweight champion Vladimir Goncharov (5-0, 4 KOs) made a short work of Kenyan opponent Bernard Adie (12-4, 8 KOs), knocking him out with an instant left haymaker thirty-five secons in round two.
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Former two-time national and one-time European amateur heavyweight champion Sergey Kuzmin (3-0, 1 KO) made another tiny step in his development, getting an eight-round workmanlike decision against Brazilian Marcelo Luiz Nascimento (17-10, 15 KOs). Kuzmin landed about 40% of his punches but was unable to drop his Latino opponent. Nascimento was slightly rocked a couple of times but never was in danger of goind down. No scores were announced but obviously it was a 80-72 type of performance though without any fireworks.
Despite a not-so-thrilling performance, next for Kuzmin can be a stateside debut in August. According to Vadim Kornilov, his manager, Kuzmin will be accompanied by ultra talented Russian light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol (3-0, 3 KOs), who is already making waves in his weight class. Both fighters, promoted by the WoB, will head overseas for further preparations in July.
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Kazakhstan native Vladimir Kelesh (2-0, 2 KOs) moved further with his career, stopping experienced Ukrainian Igor Pilipenko (4-22-2, 1 KO) in four rounds. Pilipenko was decked with a big left hand early in the first, then was hit with a thumb later in round four. He couldn't recover, and the fight was stopped right there.
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Coming back after five years off the ring (reportedly due to imprisonment for robbery), former prospect Pavel Malikov (5-0, 1 KOs) was as energetic as always against recent debutant Firdous Azimjonov (1-1) but failed to score any notable success despite landing picturesque punches. He also ate some shots in return but it wasn't enough to get Azimjonov a final win - Mailkov succeeded on a unanimous decision.
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In a crazy knockdown-fest, always-entertaining super middleweight Murad Dalkhaev (5-5, 2 KOs) went down in the first round of his fight against pro loser Andrey Polyakov (0-9) on a questionable call, got up and sent Polyakov down three times himself: twice in the second round (courtesy of his left hand) and once in the third.
Polyakov fought it to the end, which came abruplty at 1:57 of the fourth, when he butted Dalkhaev badly forcing a DQ call to be issued by the referee.
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Former amateur standout Alexey Zubov (7-0, 5 KOs), who debuted a year and so ago, continued his winning streak with a stoppage win over Ukrainian Vladyslav Nikitenko (0-5).
Zubov looked better than his opponent but Nikitenko, fighting against a former candidate to Russian national anateur team, himself proved to be much better than his losing record suggested. He moved well, sticked his jab and right hand into the face of a heavier fighter and didn't wilt under fire. However, in round three Zubov has finally found his target and landed several very damaging body blows, forcing Nikitenko to retire in his corner after three complete rounds. Zubov, who went 5-0, 4 KOs, in the States, fought for the first time in 2015.
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Recently debuted Belarussian welterweight Dmitry Miliusha (2-0, 1 KO) scored a unanimous decision over Alisher Ashurov (1-2) in another four-rounder. There were no knockdowns but Miliusha clearly controlled the fight.
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22-year old Belarussian light heavyweight Kirill "Teddy Bear" Samodurov (3-0, 1 KO) pounded out a unanimous decision over Russia-based Uzbek Talat Sharipov (2-2, 1 KO) in a scheduled four-rounder.