By Alexey Sukachev and Anton Gorunov (ringside)
Former long-time WBA bantamweight champion Wladimir Sidorenko (22-2, 7 KOs) made a successful shift down in weight in his comeback on Saturday night and defeated former contender Mbwana Matumla (19-5, 11 KOs) of Tanzania lopsidedly over twelve clinical rounds. Scores were 120-108 (twice) and 119-109 – for the Ukrainian who is now a WBC International Silver champion (for whatever that means). The fight was the main event of a show, arranged by Elite Boxing Promotion on the Square of Independence, a cult place for a number of Ukrainians in the very center of Kiev.
In a heated match-up of two frenetic featherweights, Timur Akhundov (11-2-1, 4 KOs) barely kept his record from yet another blemish and notched a draw against spirited import Mamed Yadgarov (15-5-1, 9 KOs) over ten give-and-take rounds. Scores were: 97-94, 95-96 and 95-95 – a draw.
Rising cruiserweight Dmytro Kucher (10-0, 8 KOs) easily dominated Ugandan Joey Vegas (11-6-1, 4 KOs) on all judges’ scorecards: 80-72. Vegas was down in the second round.
Also, Russian heavyweight Nikolay Israelyan (6-0, 4 KOs) outpointed Georgian import Paata Berikashvili (7-9-1, 5 KOs) unanimously over six. The Georgian was floored in the first after a wicked left hook by Israelyan.
