By Alexey Sukachev
Sergey Mitchnik of Baltic Box Promotion continued his mission of bringing prizefighting back to one of its cradles in Russia – its northern centre of St. Petersburg. Giving back to local fans and community Mitchnik relies on the fight-proven veterans, whom he returned to the ring from lengthy retirements. Another of his shows, staged on Sep. 19, at Casino Conti, saw former champs Dmitry Kirillov and Mger Mkrtchyan in tune-up attractions.
Ex-IBF super flyweight titleholder Kirillov, now 34, continued his road back as a super bantamweight with a convincing unanimous decision over fellow veteran Andrey Kostin, two and a half years his senior. The fight was scheduled for six. Kirillov (31-4-1, 10 KOs) is now 2-0 this year after almost five years off the ring following his crushing defeat to Vic Darchinyan in 2008. Dmitry still hopes for a title shot later on next year. Kostin (20-19, 6 KOs), meanwhile, is 0-9 lately and winless since 2009.
Mger Mkrtchyan (now 24-3, 17 KOs) is best known for his victories over contenders Freeman Barr and Jackson Chanet as well as his one-sided TKO loss to then-undefeated WBO champion Joe Calzaghe in 2004. Mkrtchyan, 36, now a light heavyweight, got unanimous decision over four against an unknown fighter from Uzbekistan, whose name was announced as Lenor Ahmetdzharov.
In a battle of local heavyweight journeymen, Eugene Orlov (14-12-1, 10 KOs) stopped Alexander Vasiliev (17-19-2, 9 KOs) in five. Also, another heavyweight and ex-EBU title challenger Yaroslav Zavorotnyi (16-6-2, 14 KOs) of Ukraine halted Sedrak Agagulyan (1-26-1) in four.
Other results:
Andrey Afyan (2-1) UD 4 Rustam Kasymhanov (record unknown)
Georgy Chelohsaev (1-0-1, 1 KO) TKO 2 Alexander Saltykov (8-29-3, 5 KOs)
Evguenia Zablotskaya (6-9, 2 KOs) UD 4 Elena Nazarova (0-1)
