By Alexey Sukachev (at ringside) / Photo: Evgueny Solodov
Fists were flying and girls were surely crying tonight on legendary Red Square in the very heart of the Russian capital as a majority of Russian top promoters unified their efforts to produce one of the biggest and arguably one of the best tournaments in Moscow in recent years.
Among those stalwarts who had contributed to the card were: Kirill Pchelnikov of PUSHKA Promotions, German Titov of German Titov Boxing Promotions, Sergey Stepkin of Union Boxing Management, Evgueny Vasilyev of Fighter promotional company, Yuri Fedorov of Yuri Fedorov Sports Lab, Yerik Jailauov from Ulan Boxing, promoter Alexander Polguy and manager Oleg Bogdanov. Ural Boxing Promotions (President Evgueny Vainstein and matchmaker Alexey Vasilyev) not only added their fighters to the roster but also arranged a make-up of the show and loaded the entire card. A total of eleven fights, including three minor title match-ups, were presented to the audience in attendance.
The entire show was a part of the Sixth Military-Sportive Forum arranged by “Ready for Labour and Defense of Russia” foundation and had a free admission so that everybody, who wanted to see professional boxing live, were allowed to do that.
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In what nominally was the soundest contest of the night highly-ranked Kazakh converted southpaw Vitaly Demyanenko (19-0, 12 KOs) collided with Argentinean Walter Sergio Gomez (22-9-1, 11 KOs) and quickly got the rid of his opponent proving he is worth of a better opposition. Despite his usual awareness WBO #7, WBC #9 and WBA #10 rated unbeaten didn’t waste any time and went right at his foe from the opening bell. The Argentinean guest had his nose bleeding from the first minute of round one and was considerably beaten up as well. Demyanenko continued to stalk Gomez in the second round and soon dropped him with his right. Walter barely beat the count but after another non-stop barrage of punches, which had Gomez wobbling all around the ring, referee Alexander Kalinkin intervened to save the Argentinean from further punishment. Time was 2:59 of the second stanza. Demyanenko retained his PABA and WBO Asia Pacific belts in the process. It’s worth noting that he was previously scheduled to face a tougher opponent in Australia’s Samuel Colomban but that bout failed to happen, leaving Gomez with a nice chance to step in as a late sub.
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Both WBC-supervised title match-ups for vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council minor belts at light welterweight and light middleweight limits were shrouded with a curtain of controversy and a little bit marred with an unpleasant squabble between ringside officials, as only two local judges were allowed to work for both of these fights so that Montenegrin referee Predrag Aleksic was forced to be the third man not only inside the ring but also “outside” it functioning here as the third judge.
In a fight that stole the entire show, previously undefeated “King” Khabib Allakhverdiev (12-0, 6 KOs) was on the brink of suffering his first professional loss but overcame all the adversity to outpoint gutsy challenger Karen Tevosyan (15-2-3, 9 KOs) in a fan-friendly, bloody twelve-rounder and to acquire a vacant WBC ABCO title at 140 lbs.
Smaller but arguably more refined southpaw Allakhverdiev turned opening rounds in his favour. He was boxing smartly not allowing pure slugger Tevosyan to tag him and, oppositely, beating his opponent to the punch with both his left cross and right hook. Tevosyan looked like an aggressor but his punches were slightly off the mark as a result of Khabib’s tight defense. Where Karen was finding Khabib’s ankle while digging to the body, Allakhverdiev was landing clean liver shots; where Tevosyan was using his block to partially decrease the harm of King’s attacks, his opponent was rolling with the punches and used his body movement to slip off the blows. In round three, Khabib landed a couple of left hands and had Tevosyan reeling to the corner in pain with a bad mouse under his right eye.
Surprisingly, Karen Tevosyan was able to recharge his batteries in the corner between the third and the fourth stanzas, caught his second wind and also changed his tactics starting the fourth round with well-timed attacks to the body with the subsequent following to the head. Allakhverdiev, on the other hand, partially lost his focus allowing Tevosyan to land some telling blows. Rounds four to six were in Karen’s favour as he kept stalking Allakhverdiev and connecting with a variety of different shots. Round seven could have been one of the crucial moments of the match. Tevosyan started it big but soon was floored by Allakhverdiev with a low blow. No counts or warnings were issued by referee Predrag Aleksic and the fight just went on. Sensing his opponent was hurt Khabib unleashed another barrage of punches and put his for on one knee but surprisingly referee issued no count this time as well. However, the pattern of the game once again turned around – this time for Allakhverdiev’s good. After the eighth round intermediate scores were announced, and all three judges had Khabib winning with the same margin: 77-75.
Later rounds transformed this fight into war of attrition between two fatigued but willing fighters. Tevosyan was seemingly connecting with a bigger share of blows while Allakhverdiev’s punches were crisper and cleaner. Despite a pretty hot weather and no fuel left in their tanks, both fighters were rarely seen in clinches trying to give fans their best. At the end of the fight Tevosyan had a huge gash at the right side of his face and Allakhverdiev’s right eye was completely shut allowing him to see with just one eye. After the thirteenth round of applause scores were announced in Allakhverdiev’s favour: 117-112 and 116-113 (twice). BoxingScene had this battle a draw: 114-114.
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In the third match-up of the night, Russian veteran Timur Nergadze, 31, clashed against hard-hitting Kazakh prospect Vladislav Savchenko, 22, for a vacant WBC ABCO title in light middleweight division. Notably, both fighters looked older than their ages suggested but that didn’t prevent them from engaging in a heated contest for twelve rounds.
Younger and seemingly fresher Savchenko got off to a huge start being rough with his more experienced opponent and finally put him down with the right hand in the midst of the round. Nergadze didn’t seem bothered with a minor setback and showed his power in the second round flooring Savchenko with a big left hook on his way out. The fight started to smell like another barn-burner but after two knockdowns in the first two rounds the pace of the contest calmed a bit and no more counts have been issued till the end of the fight.
Nergadze was a better and sharper man this time using his guard to block Savchenko’s best punches while using his right jab to frustrate the Kazakh and to spoil his attack before their beginning. Savchenko did land his share of punches, however, but it wasn’t enough to turn Nergadze into defensive mode. As the bout progressed, an experience of Nergadze started to give him an edge and it has well reflected in judges’ scorecards both during and after the match. All three judges gave their votes to the Russian fighter: 117-110, 117-109 and 116-111. BoxingScene scored it 115-111 – also for Nergadze who is now 14-1-1 with 2 KOs. Savchenko suffered his first career loss and his record now reads as follows: 11-1 with 7 KOs.
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In the best non-title fight of the night, up-and-coming light heavyweight prospect Roman Simakov (12-1-1, 7 KOs) made a short work of Germany-based Ghanaian cruiserweight Ben Nsafoah (9-3-2, 4 KOs). Simakov, who always has the baddest intentions possible, started to push Ghanaian from pillar to post since the opening bell, giving him no break at all. His hard work has paid off in the second round when he decked Nsafoah with a right cross. The Ghanaian barely beat the count and was on shaky legs when Simakov cornered him and fired another series of punches which had Nsafoah badly hurt and utterly defenseless. Referee Roman Filimonov was a little bit late with the stoppage at 1:12 of the second round but fortunately Simakov’s foe hasn’t suffered any injuries.
Rising light welterweight prospect Andrey Klimov (8-0, 4 KOs) didn’t look his best but stopped game and proud journeyman Alexander Saltykov (8-21-3, 5 KOs) at 2:17 of the fourth round. Saltykov did his best to give Klimov fits and he had some success with his experience and a big heart but Klimov was just sharper and stronger for his opponent. The end, however, was marred with some controversial actions of the referee who waved the bout off citing Saltykov didn’t want to continue to a big displeasure of both Saltykov and his handler Oleg Bogdanov. The rematch is being discussed for this summer.
Other results:
Aslanbek Tlatov (4-0, 1 KO) UD 6 Sergey Yurovskikh (6-9-2, 1 KO). Scores were 60-54 (twice) and 60-55.
Evgueny Khil (6-3-1, 1 KO) TKO 6 Hujambek Mamatov (1-2, 1 KO). Time of stoppage was 1:00.
Ruslan Khayrtdinov (5-0, 2 KOs) UD 4 Sergey Starkov (16-55-2, 2 KOs)
Nikolay Potapov (2-0, 2 KOs) TKO 2 Khasan Vishnyakov (0-6). Time of stoppage was 0:26.
Uranbek Esenkulov (2-0, 1 KO) MD 4 Alexey Kulikov (0-2-1)
Pavel Malikov (1-0) UD 4 Ruslan Berchuk (1-1, 1 KO)
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Also a specific ceremony was accomplished to honour several well-known Russian boxing personalities with prestigious diploma for “Their continuous effort in national health improvement”. Among those, who received their regalia yesterday, were (from left to right on the photo below): promoter and trainer Mark Meltzer, promoter Kirill Pchelnikov, promoter Sergey Kostenko, promoter Yerik Jailauov, promoter/boxer/journalist Alexander Kolesnkiov, promoter Kira Plotnikova, supervisor Oleg Ageev, promoter Evgueny Vasilyev, matchmaker Alexey Vasilyev and promoter/boxer Sergey Stepkin.