By Anton Gorunov, at ringside and Alexey Sukachev

At the Ice Palace "Terminal" in Brovari, Ukraine, Zaurbek Baysangurov (25-1, 19 KOs), one of the finest Russian boxers around in any weight class, got one of his biggest career victories. The WBA #6, WBO #8 and WBC #9 light middleweight in the world got his first ever world title with a dramatical twelfth-round TKO over Colombian veteran Richard Gutierrez (26-5-1, 16 KOs), Baysangurov, whose only loss came from the hands of the reigning IBF champion Cornelius Budrage in December 2008, is the new IBO 154lb beltholder.

It was a close see-saw battle, which was fought in close quarters from round one. Baysangurov was the aggressor but his heavy leather wasn't enough to catch the Colombian enforcer by surprise. Gutierrez used a guerilla strategy by inviting the Russian brawler inside and trying to cover under fire while landing (or at least trying to land) huge uppercuts of his own.

The local fighter (Zaurbek is based in Kiev, near Brovary) was sharper and landed more punches in the telephone booth exchanges but the Colombian fighter had his chances too. His biggest one came along midst into the fifth round, when after one of his huge right haymakers Baysangurov touched the canvas with his glove thus forcing referee Marcus McDonald to start a count. Baysangurov was also hurt by heavy body blows of Gutierrez. With a grimace of pain on his face he showed guts to survive until the bell.

Rounds seven and eight were in Colombian's favour but Baysangurov dug deep and found some energy to overcome a sudden crisis and delivered some heat to the guest fighter in the closing rounds. Gutierrez wilted under pressure in the tenth round and he was troubled by Baysangurov's power punches in the eleventh. Yet he bravely fought back and did as much as he could to make it an even fight. 

With a minute remaining in the twelfth round, the Russian fighter went in for kill and landed several telling punches. Seeing this, the referee stepped in and waved the fight off with the Colombian still throwing punches in retaliation. Time was 2:36 of the last stanza, and it was a premature stoppage on McDonald's behalf (from the way it appeared on the TV broadcast).

Flamboyant Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov, who is also a vivid supporter of the fight game, and K2 mastermind/WBC heavyweight king Vitali Klitschko - both watched the fight from ringside.

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A huge upset took place when natural super middleweight Olexander Cherviak (9-1, 1 KO) stepped up both in weight and in class to clinch a close but a well-deserved decision over highly ranked former cruiserweight Vitaly Rusal (27-2, 19 KOs). Smaller Cherviak, who was visibly out of shape for this fight, pressed slower on more careless Rusal and often pinned him to the ropes with sharp jabs. He also worked better off his opponent's body to get him tired and indifferent until the end of the fight. Scores were 78-75 (twice) and 78-74 - for the winner. Rusal was ranked WBA #6, WBC #8, IBF #9 and WBO #13 prior to this bout.

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WBO #14 welterweight Valery Brazhnik (25-0-1, 17 KOs) easily accomodated to a change in opponent and drubbed overmatched Mikola Korenev (2-5) unanimously over eight with lopsided scores: 80-72 and 80-71 (twice).

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Heavyweight Andriy Rudenko (20-0, 12 KOs) scored a tactical win over Uzbek heavyweight champion Isroil Kurbonov (6-6-2, 1 KO). Scores were 80-72, 80-73 and 79-73 - for the local battler who tried hard but failed to get a stoppage.

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Coming back from his recent Japanese disaster, light middleweight Dmitry Nikulin (22-1, 8 KOs), who was recently ranked as high as #7 by the WBO, won a hard-fought but well-earned unanimous decision against determined Igor Fanian (9-3-1, 6 KOs). Nikulin boxed smarter than his slugging rival and deservedly got the nod with scores 80-72, 79-73 and 78-75.

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2008 Beijing super heavyweight bronze medalist Vyacheslav Glazkov (8-0, 6 KOs) got his next stoppage victory after his opponent Asker Balash (1-2) retired on his stool after the third round. Glazkov was winning the fight with a considerable ease but at the same time he was cut over his right eye which troubled him a bit.

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Cruiserweight Vitaliy Neveseliy (8-0, 5 KOs) outmaneuvered and outpointed bigger and chubbier Uzbek Sherzod Mamajanov (7-14, 2 KOs) over six one-sided rounds. Scores were 59-55 (twice) and 60-55 - for the Ukrainian fighter.

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