By Alexey Sukachev

Two little cards were held in the last couple of days in Russia. Nevertheless, favorites were victorious in both of them.

Yesterday, at “Golden Crown” restaurant in Vladikavkaz, local cruiserweight power hitter Murat Gassiev improved to 16-0, with 10 KOs, after a short destruction of Georgian import George Tevdorashvili (17-12-3, 10 KOs). The Georgian fighter has been stopped after two minutes in round two. The 20-year old Russian is rated #13 by the WBC. The show was promoted by the Ural Boxing Promotions.

Tonight another Russian fighter has achieved even a greater feat (sort of). Middleweight Artur Akavov (10-1, 2 KOs) crushed his Croatian rival Ivan Jukic (17-2, 10 KOs) in two rounds, with the fight being stopped for good at 1:23 of the round. Akavov, 26, acquired a vacant WBO European title with this victory. On the same card, light heavyweight Sergey Gorokhov (3-1, 3 KOs) stopped Rasul Dibiriv (1-1) in the sixth and final round. Igor Sudelainen promoted.