By Alexey Sukachev
Ukrainian heavyweight Andrey Rudenko (28-2, 18 KOs) is back into the WBC mix a year and a bit following his back-to-back losses to Hughie Fury and newly crowned WBA (regular) champion Lucas Browne.
Rudenko, 32, looked solid against upset-minded American veteran Mike Mollo (now 21-6-1, 13 KOs), who was coming off a sensational first-round TKO of 18-0-1 Pole Krzysztof Zimnoch, in scoring a well-earned technical decision inside seven rounds.
Rudenko was dominant in a fight, getting the better of Mollo in majority of exchanges. Still the American was competitive but a cut over his right eye forced by an accidental headbutt led to hie early retirement. Scores were tallied, and they read 69-64 (twice) and 68-65 – for a new WBC International Silver titlist.
Rudenko vs. Mollo was the main event of the tourney, organized in a seaport of Oddessa by rising female promoter Victoria Olshana. In a co-main event, Eduard Skavinskiy (4-0, 2 KOs) acquired a vacant Ukrainian light middleweight title with the fifth-round kayo of fellow undefeated Andrey Veikovskiy (6-1, 2 KOs).
Other results:
Karen Chukhajian (6-1, 2 KOs) TKO 2 David Tlashadze (16-15-2, 5 KOs)
Aram Faniyan (6-0) UD 6 Giorgi Gochishvili (8-6-2, 5 KOs). Scores were: 60-53 (x3)
Mikhail Kaplenko (1-0) UD 4 Artur Schelev (0-2-2). Scores were: 40-37 and 39-37 (x2)
