By Alexey Sukachev

There are fights, which are known about long before, which are promoted and advertised to the max. Then there are those clashes, which are marked only a day or two – before (at its best) or after (as usual) the actual fight. Chances are extremely high that the latter event won’t feature anyone worth of note.

One notable exception was found this past Thursday at Markstadt in Chelyabinsk, Russia, where 22-year old prodigy Konstantin “Talent” Ponomarev (26-0, 13 KOs) stopped tough but unlucky Uzbek import Behzod Nabiyev (22-9-1, 16 KOs) midst into the fourth due to an injury suffered by Nabiyev, who was trailing on two of the judges’ scorecards (36-40) and was even (38-38) on the third. The bout was a sole fight in a tourney, promoted by the Ural Boxing.

After Terence Crawford Feud, Are Sanctioning Bodies Bad For Boxing?

In today’s episode, the crew breaks down one of boxing’s biggest debates after Terence Crawford went on his Instagram to complain about the WBC. Are sanctioning bodies simply part of the game, or have they completely lost control of the sport? We also take a hard look at the Ring title and ask whether it can still be considered legitimate if champions are not required to defend it.

Thursday | Dec 4, 2025

Ponomarev is 4-0, with 2 KOs, in 2014, including 2-0, 1 KO, record in the States. Nabiyev is just 1-8 in his nine latest outing but all of his losses came against opponents with a combined record of 141-0.

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Petr Rubtsov organized a small but a well-packed little tournament in the Altay city of Barnaul, Russia, on the same date with Ruslan Provodnikov’s fight against Jose Luis Castillo. There were three fights in the card, and in the main event rising cruiserweight Yuri Kashinskiy (5-0, 5 KOs) became the first one to stop former two-time world title challenger Yuri Barashyan (27-8, 17 KOs) within a road. Barashyan, who lost to the WBA champion Hugo Hernan Garay in 2008 and to WBO king Zsolt Erdei in 2009, was stopped after seven rounds complete.

Other results:

Vladyslav Yeromenko (2-1) UD 8 Artem Merzlikin (5-1-1, 3 KOs). Scores: 79-74, 78-74, and 77-74.

Mahir Pashayev (1-0) UD 4 Abbas Turgunbayev (0-1)

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Russian super featherweight champion Evgueny Chuprakov (10-0, 4 KOs) gets back to the ring as a part of the last notable promotion this year in Russia – an eight-fight card, scheduled to take place on December 20 in Ekaterinburg, Russia, under promotion of German Titov and matchmaking of his son Alexey. Chuprakov will be featured in a six-rounder against Evgueny Tarabukin (2-0, 2 KOs). In another notable contest, 1-0 Alexander Moskovskiy takes on 8-1, 2 KOs, Maxim Chemezov over four.