By Gregory Stangrit (Allboxing.ru) and Alexey Sukachev

Last Thursday IBO cruiserweight champion and TBRB #5 200lber Rakhim “The Machine” Chakhkiev (24-1, 18 KOs) went through hell and back in his assumed tune-up fight versus unheralded Brazilian Hamilton Ventura (14-2-1, 10 KOs).

Chakhkiev, down twice and having eaten dozens of hard shots, barely squeaked past Ventura with a close unanimous decision over eight rounds. This unlikely test has come just a month from Chakhkiev’s next fight versus Nigerian import Ola Afolabi (21-4-4, 10 KOs), which is still scheduled to take place on Nov. 4 in Kazan, Russia.

“This was not an easy fight, but in boxing anything can happen”, said Chakhkiev to Grigory Stangrit of Allboxing.ru. “There were certain mistakes that I made so the fight was even useful. This was a long-armed, tall fighter… and a nice test on the eve of the Afolabi fight. Now I’ll rest a bit and then continue my preparations for Afolabi fight”.