By Yuri Tarantin (Allboxing.ru) and Alexey Sukachev
Russia’s newest talent Konstantin Ponomarev (25-0, 12 KOs) continues to make waves in and outside the ring. This past Saturday Ponomarev has clearly outpointed hard-nosed Mexican veteran Cosme Rivera (37-19-3, 25 KOs) over ten rounds: 100-90 (x2) and 98-92.
“I’ll rated his performance at B”, said Russian co-promoter Alexey Vasiliev from the Ural Boxing Promotions, who assessed Ponomarev’s latest outing.
“He has started to show mature boxing, and he looked quite good against Rivera but he is still work in progress. Rivera proved to be extremely durable and experienced opponent, who has come out to fight rather than to survive. We have all hoped Kostya would finish him off but going the full distance against such an opponent and in such type of fight will prove to be very useful. With each fight his level of opposition will raise, so newly found weaknesses and soft spots are now detected and will be eradicated before those bouts and not during or after them”.
“In a week or so, Ponomarev will take a plane to Philippines to join Manny Pacquiao as one of his chief sparring partners”, revealed Vasiliev. “Freddie Roach thinks the world of Kostya, and he is ensured Ponomarev will proved to be a very valuable addition to the camp of Manny before hos collision with Chris Algieri. We hope that Ponomarev will be featured within the same show with Manny on Nov. 22 in Macao”.
