By Alexey Sukachev
A nice run, propelled by the Turkish heavyweight Erkan Teper, was put to a halt the last year, when the top-10 contender was charged with a drug offense following his soundest victory - the second-round TKO over David Price for a vacant European crown. Suspended for several months Teper came back this July, merely a year after the Price fight, and looked rusty against American journeyman Derrick Rossy. It looks like that was just the beginning of his way down. Tonight the Turk suffered his first career loss - a split decision to Romanian fringe contender Christian Chiocan, best known as Christian Hammer.
Teper didn't look proper from the start. He was aggressive - seemingly as usual - but something was missing. He was easier to hit than previously on his way in, he wilted a bit under fire of Hammer, and his own punches lacked acceleration and kinetic energy needed to penetrate the tight guard of the Romanian. The latter chose a right approach, combining clinches, holding and pushing to a certain extent with nice left hooks and right crosses to frustrate the Turkish fighter.
It wasn't one-sided but Teper, 34, felt he was losing the fight. He tried to engage more with Hammer but the latter was wise not to go toe-to-toe for a long period. He kept shaking Teper from a mid range, and avoided power-to-power when needed. Teper tried hard but his stamina and reflexes weren't as good as before.
The fight was scheduled for twelve but a couple of rounds would have been enough to get deep understanding of what was going on. At the end, the Hammer team was delighted, while Teper knew he blew a fight. Nevertheless, it was a split decision: 117-112, 116-112 - for the Romanian, who is now 20-4, 11 KOs, and 115-113 - for Teper, who drops to 16-1, 10 KOs. Hammer acquired a vaant WBO European belt in this fight.
Sweden has a new rising star, obsessed with a solid debilitating power. 25-year old Malmo resident Carl Adrian Wilhelm Granat, or simply Adrian Granat, was losing his contest against rugged and tough German Frnaz Rill before coming back with a stunning comeback stoppage at 1:30 of the sixth round.
Rill (13-2, 9 KOs) was ahead on the scorecards: 49-46, 48-47 (twice) before being stopped by the Swede. Not only he improves to 14-0, with 13 KOs, but Adrian Granat also acquired Rill's IBF international heavyweight title to wake up his ranking ambitions.
Germany-based Uzbek Timur "Stark" Musafarov (8-2, 7 KOs), 30, is best known for spirited performances in 2013 and 2014 against world-rated contenders Erkan Teper (split decision loss) and Denis Boytsov (a quality unanimous decision loss). After two years off the ring the Uzbek performer came back with a bang, stopping a noname in his first comeback fight and now repeating the trick against once-beaten heavyweight Christian Lewandowski (9-2, 9 KOs). Musafarov stopped Leandowski at 1:38 of the sixth round.
--------------------
It took Hamburg-based Serbian cruiserweight Nikola Mijacic just 53 seconds to knock out overmatched 44-year old Brazilian import Claudio Morroni Porto (8-3-1, 7 KOs). Mijacic, 23, improves to solid 14-1, with 9 KOs, his only loss being in an early DQ.