By Cliff Rold

The doctor didn’t mind, nor did the eventual victor, but on Saturday night at the Stadthalle in Rostock, Germany, the referee appeared unable to countenance the sight of blood.

Regardless, 30-year old WBA heavyweight titlist Ruslan Chagaev (24-0-1, 17 KO), an Uzbek fighting out of Hamburg, Germany made his second successful defense against 33-year old Costa Rican Carl Drummond (26-1, 20 KO) in a bout abbreviated by a cut caused by an accidental headbutt.  Chagaev shares the WBA heavyweight titlist distinction with the man he captured the belt from, Nicolay Valuev, after Valuev was allowed to contest for the belt while Chagaev suffered inactivity for much of the last year.  Presumably, the two will be pitted in a rematch to resolve the issue sometime later this year.

Chagaev came into the bout at 227, Drummond at 229.

The southpaw Chagaev looked eager to begin in his first fight since a long layoff after suffering an Achilles injury in training in 2008, snapping a hard left to the belly and adding another to the head of Drummond off a snapping right jab.  Drummond contested at a measured pace, circling to his left and snapping his own jab.  The action didn’t heat up much in the second with Chagaev still leading, applying pressure and landing the occasional straight left.  In the closing seconds, a straight left and right hook caught Drummond but the bell prevented any follow up.

Drummond burst through the guard of Chagaev in the first thirty seconds of round three, whipping Chagaev’s head around with a right hook.  Chagaev took a step back towards the ropes and ate another right against the strands before returning the bout to center ring.  Drummond began to throw his jabs in series as Chagaev aimed at the chest and belly with the left.  Two Chagaev lefts to the head landed as he multiplied his own jabs and another left was added in the final thirty seconds.  Drummond responded with a pair of blows to the body.  The action inside brought a nasty cut over the left eye of Chagaev from an accidental headbutt.  The ringside doctor deemed him fit to continue and the bell rang immediately after the action was resumed.

Another clash of heads halted the action early in round four, Drummond walking away and shaking out the cobwebs but free from any visible wound.  Red still flowing down the side of Chagaev’s face, the titlist stalked forward with his left.  Just past the one minute mark, the doctor was summoned again to review the cut and deemed Chagaev again fit to proceed.  Drummond got on his toes when action resumed, circling if not punching enough with the threat of a stopped fight looming.  Chagaev landed a left high on the head of Drummond inside the halfway mark and he landed three more in the final thirty seconds while Drummond answered with a left uppercut.

After some furious cut work in the corner between rounds, Chagaev returned to stalking at the bell for the fifth.  Not much was landed for the first minute, Drummond breaking the monotony with a right to the body and another upstairs.  It was Chagaev who struck harder, a ripping left buckling the knees of Drummond.  Another left just missed but forced Drummond towards the ropes momentarily.  Reversing posture, Chagaev circled in the final minute as Drummond came forward, both men landing hard lefts.

In a moment best described as curious, with Chagaev asking to continue and one completed round past the point where an accidental cut stoppage results in a trip to the judge’s cards rather than a no contest, referee Gustavo Padilla called the doctor forth and stated the cut was too dangerous to allow the bout to continue.  The doctor disagreed and the referee appeared informed by ringside officials that if the fighter and doctor agreed on a continuance, so should he. 

Drummond responded with a strong effort in the sixth, matched by a similarly strong effort from Chagaev in the bout’s best round.  It would be the last round as Padilla waved off the action between the sixth and seventh rounds and sent the fight to the cards.  The cards were good to a Chagaev who never stopped shaking his head at an unwanted early end, capturing a unanimous decision by scores of 60-54 and 58-56 twice.  BoxingScene scored the bout 59-53 for Chagaev.

While nasty looking, the cut had not appeared to affect the action as the blood looked to be flowing largely down the side of Chagaev’s face and not much into the eye.  It was another in a long trend of curious finishes in Germany.

On the televised undercard, 22-year old Heavyweight Denis Boystov (24-0, 19 KO), 220 ½, a Russian fighting out Hamburg, German, showed himself one to watch for the future with a devastating second-round knockout of 38-year old journeyman Israel Garcia (19-3, 11 KO), 256, of New York City.

Boystov began the bout on his toes, Garcia more in plodding fashion.  Boystov would land the first hard shot, a right to the body as Garcia backed to the ropes.  Another quick right upstairs added to his scoring rate and a hard left hook just missed seconds past the halfway mark.  Adding in a lead left uppercut, Boystov patiently circled as Garcia followed, blocking a pair of attempted hooks.  Boystov finished with a sneaking left uppercut near the bell.

Boystov pressed to start the second before backing away again in search of countering opportunities.  At a minute in, Boystov exploded with a right hand to the temple, rocking Garcia.  His prey off balance, Boystov followed in combination lacing in a final right as Garcia collapsed to the mat.  Referee Jean-Louis Legland began the mandatory right-count as Garcia rose from the canvas, waving Boystov in to attempt the finish.  Finish he did, trapping Garcia against the ropes and slamming two hard rights, a left, and another right before the action was halted and Garcia declared unfit to continue.  The official time of the stoppage was 1:17 of the second.

In a grueling, crowd pleasing affair, the Jr. Welterweights kicked off the telecast in style.  After twelve hard rounds, it was 31-year old WBA titlist Andriy Kotelnik (31-2-1, 13 KO), 139 ½, a Ukrainian fighting out of Hamburg, Germany, making his second successful defense at the expense of 25-year Argentine Marcos Maidana (25-1, 24 KO).  It was the sort of affair which colored both men with increased respect and would leave them welcome back on any telecast.

Maidana, 140, got off to a strong start, aggressively firing right hands and placing faith in his power.  Kotelnik responded as the rounds wore on, picking off shots with his gloves and elbows and countering the wider shots of Maidana.  The closing third off the fight saw ebbs and flows from both men with Kotelnik clearly capturing round nine and Maidana clearly outhustling Kotelnik in the twelfth.  It was the tenth and ultimately final round where it was difficult to choose.

In the closing stanza, Maidana began strong but Kotelnik held his ground, countering with clean, straight right hands while Maidana fired wide shots to the temple.  The fight ultimately swung on the efforts found in the final rounds with Kotelnik edging the bout on two scorecards at 115-114 and 115-113.  The dissenting judge favored Maidana at 115-113.  The referee was Hector Afu.

Other Televised Results

Featherweights: Marcel Meyerdircks (11-0, 4 KOs) UD8 Vitaly Shivanov (3-5, 1 KO)
Super Middleweight: Eduard Guttknecht (16-0, 7 KOs) TKO5 Rubin Williams (29-6-1, 16 KOs)

The card was televised in the United States via InDemand pay-per-view, also available online through Maxboxing/SecondsOut, promoted by Universum Box Promotions. 

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com