By Alexey Sukachev

Seven and a half years after his first national title, captured in a tough fight against Vyacheslav Yakovenko, formerly rated welterweight journeyman Alexey Evchenko added another Russian trophy to his relatively rich resume. This past Monday the local hero topped Russia-based Armenian Vaginak Tamrazyan to repeat his trick.

Evchenko vs. Tamrazyan was the main event of a tiny show, produced by Alexey Vasilyev of Ural Boxing Promotions at the Markstadt restaurant in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Evchenko overcame Vasilyev with a wide unanimous decision over ten rounds. Final scores were: 100-90, 100-91, and 98-92 – for the Russian boxer.

Tamrazyan, 30, was one fight removed from his first career loss to fellow compatriot Petros Ananyan – a fight he has lost his title in. Evchenko, who started his pro career in 2006, had a long lay-off, lasting four and a half years since his loss to Roman Seliverstov in May 2011. Alexey came back with two straight losses before stopping 26-20 Estonian Sergey Melis to restore his confidence.

In his past, Evchenko had wins over 13-1 Bogdan Mitic and 11-0 Sherali Mamadaliev, and held EBU-EE, WBO European and PABA titles. Tamrazyan falls back to 11-2, with 3 KOs. Evchenko, 32, meanwhile, improves to 11-10-1, 6 KOs.

In another featured bout of the night Russian welterweight Anton “Pick Hammer” Novikov improved his record to solid 31-1, with 11 KOs, after a dominate stoppage of hard-punching Uzbek Bahrom Payozov (23-5, 15 KOs) in the fourth round (0:45). Novikov, 28, is best known for his close loss to Jesse Vargas in a bid for the WBA regular title in August 2014.

Also, another fighter came out of retirement to get his win, as cruiserweight Valery Volozhenin (13-1-1, 7 KOs) halted Armenian Atravazd Margaryan (2-7-2, 2 KOs) with just 27 seconds remaining in the sixth and final round. Volozhenin hasn’t been seen in the ring ever since his first-round TKO loss to Alexander Kotlobay in December 2009.