By Alexey Sukachev

Belarus

Several rising Eastern European prospects were featured on a show, organized altogether by well-known Belgian impresario Philippe Fondu and local promoter Valery Kaplia on February 21 at Moulin Rouge Club in Minsk, Belarus.

Welterweight Andrey Abramenko (17-1-2, 4 KOs) continued his comeback after a one-sided loss to Matthew Hatton the last year, with a successful defense of his welterweight national title against Dmitry Tarenko (8-9-1, 2 KOs). Abramenko stopped Tarenko in four rounds.

Also successful were unbeaten prospects Kirill Relikh (7-0, 6 KOs) and Petar Zivkovic (10-0, 5 KOs).

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Belgium

Firing Belgian Delfine Persoon (17-1, 6 KOs) got the biggest win of her three-year long career so far after she pummeled Italian Lucia Morelli (17-3, 8 KOs) in submission in the fifth round of a scheduled ten in the main event at Expo-Hallen in her hometown of Roeselare on February 25. Persoon was in full control of the bout from the get-go. Her punches were damaging and from round three Morelli was wilting under the power of the Belgian. In the fifth, Persoon increased her punch output, cornered Morelli and delivered one blow after another until the Italian was unable to defend herself, prompting referee Leszek Jankowiak to issue a stoppage. Persoon is now the WIBF lightweight champion.

Two undefeated Benelux prospects got their next wins on the same card, but they were rather different. Hard-punching welterweight of Armanian origin Sasha Yengoyan (19-0-1, 11 KOs) stopped usually durable Estonian Albert Starikov (16-18-1, 7 KOs) in four, while unbeaten lightweight Jean-Pierre Bauwens (23-0-1, 13 KOs) struggled mightily against extremely fierce Latvian journeyman and upset artist Jevgenijs Kirillovs. Bauwens was very lucky to clinch a razor-thin majority decision over six. Scores were: 58-57, 58-56 and 57-57 – in favor of the Belgian. Kirillovs, still only 22, came back in Trowbridge, UK, a week later to get another upset, outpointing (40-37) local prospect Liam Richards (11-3). Kirillovs is now 11-14-1, 8 KOs.

On the same card, Kobe Vanderkerkhove (20-13-3, 13 KOs) scored a close unanimous decision over Ahmed El Hamwy (6-2-1, 1 KO) to defend his Belgian welterweight title. Scores were 96-94, 96-93 and 96-92.

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Well-known Belgian welterweight contender Jackson Osei Bonsu continues the slow resurrection of his stagnating career after a hard knockout loss to American Randall Bailey in 2010 and an upset loss to Karlo Tabaghua a year later. On January 28, Bonsu easily defeated Croatian professional loser Zoran Cvek (7-17-3, 5 KOs) in four rounds of scheduled eight in the city of Limburg.

Next for Bonsu (39-5, 28 KOs) is another tune-up – this time against Estonian Sergey Melis (18-8, 7 KOs) on March 24. The Belgian fighter, who now competes at light middleweight limit, is also scheduled to fight an ever dangerous TBA in late April, both bouts taking place in Belgium

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Cruiserweight power hitter Geoffrey Battelo (25-2, 21 KOs) let his hands fly against fading Czech veteran Roman Kracik (33-9-1, 19 KOs) and knocked out his 40-year old foe in the second round on February 4 in Liege. Battelo, 32, continues his comeback after two devastating losses – first time to Marco Huck for the EBU title in early 2009 and the second time to another Czech Lubos Suda, a year after that. Next for Battelo is a fight against TBA on April 28, also in Belgium.

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Promising little fighter Stephane Jamoye (23-3, 13 KOs) came back to his super flyweight home on February 18 in Liege and easily dismissed previously undefeated Nicaraguan Miguel Aguilar (10-1, 5 KOs) in two to become the WBC Youth I/C titlist. Jamoye, 22, who fell short in glorious efforts against Tomoki Kameda and Jamie McDonnell and was knocked out by hard-hitting Mexican Leo Santa Cruz, is presently ranked #8 by the WBC at 115 lbs.

On the same card, IBF #9 welterweight Naoufel Ben Rabah (35-3, 18 KOs) outpointed inexperienced but rugged Ali Hassanzadeh (4-1) over six. Scores were 60-54 and 60-55 (twice). Ben Rabah, 34, is best known for his two unsuccessful title efforts for the IBF 140lb title against Lovemore N’Dou and Juan Urango in 2006/2007. He is 11-0, 5 KOs, since then including the third-round stoppage of former champion Isaac Hlatshwayo.

Also, Stephane’s twin brother Steve (10-0, 2 KOs), who competes as a light welterweight, also got his own win, decisioning Nicaraguan Santos Medrano (8-7-2, 6 KOs) over six.

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Bulgaria

Local heavyweight Mile Paunov (6-0) scored his second straight win in Bigger’s Better heavyweight/cruiserweight tournaments, which are getting more and more widespread across Europe (mostly being held at different resorts).

Paunov dominated the tournament, which was held in a seaport of Burgas, Bulgaria, on February 24 and which was promoted by Eric Karlton and broadcasted live by Eurosport.

Final:

Milen Paunov (6-0) UD 3 Henriques Zowa (2-2)

Semifinals:

Milen Paunov (5-0) UD 3 Petre Gananau (1-1)

Henriques Zowa (2-1) UD 3 Marcel Gottschalk (8-6-2, 5 KOs)

Quarterfinals:

Petre Gananau (Romania, 1-0) UD 3 Roger Pinas (Suriname, 0-1)

Marcel Gottschalk (Germany, 8-5-2, 5 KOs) SD 3 Nicolae Vizitiu (Romania, 0-1)

Henriques Zowa (Netherlands, 1-1) UD 3 Dragan Jovanovic (Serbia, 0-1)

Milen Paunov (4-0) UD 3 Kamil Sokolowski (Poland, 0-1)

On the same card, the winner of 2010/2011 series of Bigger’s Better tournaments (which by occasion included such names as Konstantin Airich and Gbenga Oloukun among others) Knostantin Bejenaru (7-0, 1 KO) got a hard-fought four-round majority decision over debuting towering Bulgarian Todor Todorov (0-1). Bejenaru was put down with a huge right hand in the first but fought extra hard to turn back the tide.

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Congo

Local powerhouse Matamba Debatch Postolo (15-0, 9 KOs), a cruiserweight fighter/promoter, continued his ring activities with a unanimous decision over Czech loser Michal Bilak after twelve round. Bilak has lost his twelfth fight in a row but his record is still barely positive with 19-18, 10 KOs.

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Finland

Finland started its boxing year on January 21 in Senajoki, where Pekka Maki of P3 Boxing, the leading Finnish promoter nowadays, presented a tiny card for local entertainment.

The man of the evening was popular Nordic heavyweight-turned-cruiserweight Juho Haapoja (17-2-1, 10 KOs), who increased his winning streak up to twelve fights after an unpredictably close victory over previously undefeated but untested Irish cruiserweight champion Ian Tims (now 9-1, 3 KOs). Scores were: 115-113 (twice) and 116-112 – for the local, who has been given a really stern test. Haapoja retained his EBU-EU title in the process.

In a co-feature, two unbeatens collided, and more experienced Jussi Koivula (11-0, 3 KOs) came out as a winner after a hard-fought eight-round decision over popular Jarkko Jussila (4-1, 2 KOs). Scores were 78-75 and 78-74 (twice).

Also victorious were Finnish prospects: heavyweight Jarno Rosberg (13-0, 4 KOs), lightweight Jaakko Myllyla (11-0-1, 4 KOs) and hot super featherweight female star Eva Wahlstrom (7-0-1, 3 KOs).

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Promoter Markus Lammi from Finnish professional boxing stable Caramelito Promotions organized a sold out night club show at Vaasa, Finland, on March 3 with about 350 people in audience. The show contained 4 amateur fights with local boxers as home fighters and 2 professional boxing matches.

In the first professional boxing match earlier unbeaten Finnish national light middleweight champion Aki Selesmaa squared off with Lithuanian warrior Arvydas Trizno over 6 rounds and for a vacant Baltic Boxing Union (BBU) International title.

Trizno started actively and aggressively took the centre of the ring. Rounds two, three and four were very close thanks to Selesmaa, who was able to get into the fight a bit better. Selesmaa was trying to use his jab to stop Trizno to come inside but a majority of his punches was eliminated or blocked by Trizno´s good guard and neglected by his movement.

The best punches were still thrown by the Lithuanian. An audience, which originally was supporting the Finnish boxer, changed its mind during the fight and started to support the Lithuanian boxer, who was giving everything he had inside the ring.

In the fifth round Selesmaa found a new speed and took the dominance of the bout. Trizno started to look a bit tired, and in the middle of the fifth he also got a cut on his left cheek-bone after an accidental head clash. Trizno started to back up and to throw some big swinging punches only on occasion. Although Selesmaa won rounds five and six clearly, he has started his rush too late and referee Simo Halmevuo scored it fairly to abroad boxer Arvydas Trizno, who at the same time was crowned as a new Baltic Boxing Union (BBU) International light middleweight champion. The fight was also clear evidence that a foreign boxer can win a close fight on points on a Caramelito Promotions´ show. Trizno improved to 14-16-2 while Selesmaa is dropped to 6-1.

In the main event, local star and former professional kick boxing European champion Jarkko Jussila (5-1, 3 KOs) floored Latvian Stanislavs Leonovs (3-4, 3 KOs) three times in the second to get a deserved stoppage victory.

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Former EBU-EU light welterweight titleholder Ville Piispanen (16-2-3, 6 KOs) came back after a lengthy lay-off to defeat 19-year old Russian Eliyar Nasirov (2-3-2, 1 KO) over six in a workmanlike style on a P3-promoted event on March 3 in Espoo. Scores were identical: 60-54 – for Piispanen.

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Georgia

Local promoter Vaja Kvizereli improved records of a number of his protégés on January 22 at Kandelaki Sports Hall in Tbilisi, Georgia. Almost all of them are regionally-known journeyman, who are usual guests in Europe as opponents and who were served some cannon fodder to regain their confidence. Those included: George Tevdorashvili (10-6-3, 6 KOs), Kakhaber Avetisyan (23-16-1, 7 KOs), Nugzar Magrvelashvili (23-14, 9 KOs), Beka Sadjaia (28-16-1, 10 KOs), Georgy Ungiadze (18-12, 8 KOd), David Makaradze (18-8, 9 KOs), Mikheil Khutsishvili (20-16-3, 5 KOs) and some others. Notable exceptions were more-rounded minor gatekeepers Boris Mdinaradze (20-1, 16 KOs) and Shalva Jomardshvili (31-3-1, 23 KOs). Mdinaradze will be back to the ring on March 14 at the same place, trying to extend his winning series against experienced Ukrainian journeyman Vladimir Borovskiy (20-46-2, 10 KOs)

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Germany

Former cruiserweight title challenger Alexander Petkovic (42-4-4, 21 KOs) stopped Turkish trialhorse Ergin Solmaz (5-26-3, 4 KOs) in two rounds of scheduled ten in Munich, Germany. The fight took place on March 3, and it was Petkovic’s first match since scoring a highly controversial DQ over journeyman Cisse Salif in October 2011. Petkovic is still 31, but he is no way near his best shape, when in 2003 he was able to give a stern test to then-WBO cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson.

On the same card, which has been promoted by Rooko Matolsi, a number of ex-Yugoslavian fighters were featured in a number of interesting contests. Middleweight Ivan Jukic (13-0, 8 KOs) got his biggest victory so far over Turkish veteran Turgay Uzun (37-20-2, 24 KOs), stopping him in three. That was Uzun’s fourth consecutive loss via a knockout. Ex-EBA cruiserweight titleholder Goran Delic (21-0, 3 KOs) outpointed Albanian Shendrit Hotnjani (8-4-1, 3 KOs) for the second time in four months with the same score: 60-54. Also victorious were Serbian cruiserweight Sanel Papic (11-0, 8 KOs) and 16-year old Austrian based Chechen Chicho Amaev (6-0, 5 KOs). Amaev was forced to go the distance for the first time in his short career.

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Hungary

Heavyweight journeyman-turned-promoter Zoltan Petranyi continued his activities on March 1 in Budapest. There was a plenty of entertainment but the most important was the main event, when two continentally-known cruiserweight journeymen collided for a vacant Hungarian 200lb title. The winner was Jozsef Nagy (27-11, 16 KOs), who stopped Laszlo Hubert (31-11, 21 KOs) in the ninth round.

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Kazakhstan

Hard-hitting bantamweight Zhanat Zhakiyanov (17-1, 10 KOs) continued his reign of terror across Eurasia with the first-round destruction of Thai Lookdiew Tor Buamas (7-3, 4 KOs) on January 27 at “Zhenis” Palace of Sports in Petropavlovsk. 24-years old Zhakiyanov knocked out Tor Buamas cold after two minutes of the round. He has knocked out his last four opponents, and after the recent victory he has retained the WBC Asian Boxing Continental Council 118lb title for the second time. Zhakiyanov, who is co-promoted by Philippe Fondu and Ricky Hatton, also owns the EBU-EE bantamweight belt. The show was promoted by Jerik Jailauov of Ulan Boxing.

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Poland

Bartolomiej Wanczyk (10-0, 4 KOs), a 24-years old light welterweight of Nowy Sacz, improved his record after a highly controversial victory over unheralded Belarussian Anton Bekish, which took place on February 11 in Poznan, Poland. The sole score was 58-57 – for Wanczyk.

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Andrzej Gmitruk, a famed trainer of Polish heavyweight Tomasz Adamek, is also a promoter. On February 17 he staged a nice-packed little show in Olsztyn with several of his pupils taking their part in.

In what seemed to be the most important fight of the night, super middleweight Piotr Wilczewski (30-2, 10 KOs) clinched his spot as Arthur Abraham’s future opponent for March 31 show with hard-fought split decision over rugged and very durable Serbian opponent Geard Ajetovic (19-7-1, 9 KOs), who has never been stopped in his career despite taking on the best of neighboring weight classes, including WBO champion Dmitry Pirog and IBF titlist Daniel Geale. Ajetovic, 310-15 as an amateur, gave fits to the former EBU beltholder as well, but the Pole was slightly better, clinching a win. Scores were: 79-72 and 79-73 for Wilczewski, and 77-75 – for Ajetovic, who was deducted a point in round two. Wilczewski has his right eyebrow cut in the first.

In the main event, rising light heavyweight Dariusz Sek (15-0-1, 6 KOs) scored a workmanlike decision over Georgian Shalva Jomardashvili (31-4-1, 23 KOs) in a ten-rounder. Scores were 100-91, 99-91 and 98-92 – for Sek. Also victorious were unbeaten prospects Przemyslaw Opalach (9-0, 8 KOs), Maciej Sulecki (9-0, 2 KOs) and Norbert Dabrowski (7-0, 2 KOs).

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12 Round KnockOut Promotions (former BullIt KnockOut Promotions), the leading Polish boxing company, will stage a huge cruiserweight night of boxing on March 17 in Krynica Zdroj.

In the main event of the night, 31-year old boxer-puncher Pawel Kolodziej (29-0, 17 KOs) is expected to continue his rise in ranks against dangerous Romanian veteran Giulian Ilie (18-4-2, 5 KOs). IBF #15 Ilie, 34, is coming off two back-to-back upset wins over leading Italian contenders Christian Dolzanelli (16-1-1) and Salvatorre Erritu (21-0). He will put his IBF I/C title at risk against highly rated (WBA #3, WBC/IBF #6 and WBO #9) Polish fighter.

On the same card, Krzysztof Glowacki (15-0, 10 KOs) will try to resolve the hardest possible task by becoming the second fighter to stop rugged Belgian journeyman Ismail Abdoul (42-23-2, 16 KOs) inside the distance. Abdoul was previously stopped just once – by Glowacki’s namesake Woldarczyk. Also, Poland-based Nigerian Izuagbe Ugonoh (6-0, 5 KOs) is matched against German Bjoern Blaschke (8-1, 5 KOs) over six.

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Tomasz Babilonski of Babilon Promotion will stage his next event on March 24 in the historical place of Oswiecim. In the main event, Krzysztof Cieslak (18-2, 5 KOs) will try to avenge his loss to Dominican road fighter Felix Lora (13-9-5, 8 KOs). Two years Lora scored an upset majority decision over Cieslak. This particular fight is scheduled for a vacant WBC Baltic lightweight title.

On the same night, super middleweight Lukasz Wawrzyczek (12-1-1, 2 KOs) and Christian Pawlak (17-4, 10 KOs) will collide for a vacant Polish International title. Also, heavyweight Krzysztof Zimnoch (9-0-1, 7 KOs) will test his skills against Vjekoslav Baljic (5-5, 2 KOs).

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Romania

At Sala Rapin in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, WBC #14 featherweight Viorel Simeon (15-0, 7 KOs) brought his Mexican opponent Edgar Riovalle (34-13-1, 24 KOs) to the school over twelve rounds to get a well-earned unanimous decision and to retain his WBC International belt for the first time. Scores were: 120-108 and 119-109 (twice). Simeon is a former amateur star; he definitely has some fine skills but he needs to be more active as he is already 30 years of age.

On the same card, which took place on February 9, heavyweight Bogdan Dinu moved up to 7-0, 4 KOs, after the first-round knockout of Muhammed Ali Durmaz (7-12, 6 KOs).

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Russia

Spain-based Russian lightweight Petr Petrov (30-3-2, 14 KOs) came back from his one-sided stoppage loss to then-WBA “regular” light welterweight champion Marcos Rene Maidana in September 2011 to score an easy win over Nicaraguan Sergio Jose Olivas (12-7, 7 KOs) on February 11 in Illescas, Spain. Olivas, who has previously lost four in a row, was dropped three times to be counted out in the very first round.

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Formerly ranked bantamweight Khabir Suleymanov (13-1, 6 KOs) notched two obscure wins in Mexico in late 2011 and in early 2012. Firstly, Suleymanov crushed incapable former flyweight Jorge Guerrero (7-9, 5 KOs) in just a round, and then barely outfought veteran Roberto Lopez (now 30-24-1, 12 KOs) in four with a majority decision. Suleymanov will be back to the ring on March 16 at Quiet Cannon in Montebello, CF. His opponent is still to be defined.

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On February 4, WBO #5 bantamweight Sahib Usarov (18-0, 6 KOs) made a strong debut overseas with a ten-round unanimous decision over 2004 Athens gold medalist and former Cuban national team captain Yan Barthelemy Varela (12-3, 4 KOs) in a hard-fought ten-round affair.

Usarov, 28, a former amateur standout himself, was born and raised as a fighter in Tajikistan, a small Central Asian state, but came into prominence in Moscow. In his fight against Varela, who was riding a nice four-fight winning streak, southpaw Usarov demonstrated his best qualities, landing combinations and single punches to the body and head of the Cuban. Barthelemy has some success as well damaging Usarov’s left eye. At the end, however, all three judges awarded it to Usarov: 98-91 (Eric Marlinski) and 96-93 (Glenn Feldman and Tom Schreck). The Russian Tajik acquired a vacant WBO I/C title in this fight.

In the main event of the show, arranged at Times Union Center, NY, by Joe DeGuardia of Star boxing, rising heavyweight power Joe Hanks (19-0, 13 KOs) blitzed another Cuban Rafael Pedro (21-10-1, 15 KOs) in two.

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Serbia

One of a few Montegrin fighters, and one of a few undefeated Montenegrin fighters as well, Predrag Radosevic (25-0, 9 KOs) acquired another regional belt on January 12 in Zlatibor, Serbia. Radosevic took over German Ronny Gabel (9-4, 7 KOs) over twelve hard-fought rounds with a unanimous decision. Radosevic, 27, captured a vacant IBF international middleweight title in this fight.

The card was presented by Ermin Dedeic and Darko Popivoda. On the same card their next victories were achieved by unbeaten prospects Petar Zivkovic (9-0, 5 KOs), Ivan Ribac (8-0, 7 KOs) and Milan Piperski (6-0, 3 KOs).

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Slovakia

Local boxer-promoter Tomas Kovacs (20-0, 13 KOs) came back to the ring on January 27 after almost a year of inactivity since his controversial minor title-winning effort against Kenyan Hamza Wandera with an easy victory in a tune-up eight-rounder. Kovacs, 34, decisioned German journeyman Steve Kroekel (16-18-2, 7 KOs) unanimously with almost identical scores: 80-73, 80-72 and 79-73. The fight took place at the City Hall of Trnava.

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Ukraine

Union Boxing Promotion, a Donetsk-based Ukrainian promotional company, which is one of the richest in Eastern Europe, tends to put all of its protégés in huge, single shows with an assortment of championship fights to entertain the local sport’s followers and with a big number of contests on the same event to let all of its fighters take part in the show.  On January 10, UBP revised the tradition by making a tournament, filled with warm-ups and tune-ups, at Druzhba Sports Arena in Donetsk.

In the only title bout of the evening, WBA #10 cruiserweight Yago Kiladze improved his record to 18-0, with 12 KOs, after the second-round TKO over Hungarian Jozsef Nagy (26-11, 15 KOs). Kiladze retained his WBA I/C title in this fight. Time of stoppage was 2:11.

In the best performance of the night, local favorite Artem Redko (20-2-2, 11 KOs) found himself in deep waters against tough and dangerous Russian journeyman Sergey Beloshapkin (10-7-1, 3 KOs). Redko was down in the third and in the sixth rounds, and Beloshapkin was floored twice in the fifth. After eight rounds of two-way action, one judge preferred the local guy – 78-74, another one voted for the Russian – 74-75, while the third one scored it 76-76 – a draw.

Coming back after an upset and crushing loss to Ignacio Mendoza, Ukrainian light welterweight Vladimir Kravets (25-1, 15 KOs) easily outpointed Latvian Jevgenijs Kirillovs (9-13-1, 7 KOs) over ten one-sided rounds. There were no knockdowns. Scores were 100-90 across the boards.

Veteran lightweight Andrey Kudriavtsev (38-9, 17 KOs) came back into the W column after his recent loss in Belgium with the second-round stoppage of unheralded and incapable Hungarian Arpad Vass (6-2, 5 KOs). Time was 2:57.

WBA #6 super middleweight Server Yemurlaev (21-0, 8 KOs) cruised to an easy victory over Latvian journeyman Arturs Kulikauskis (7-13-3, 4 KOs) over eight rounds. Scores were: 80-71, 80-72 and 80-73.

Exactly the same scores marked the win of WBA #14 featherweight Oleg Yefimovich (21-2, 11 KOs) over Uzbek’s Farhod Oripov (10-8-1, 5 KOs).

Also victorious were local prospects Ruslan Schelev (8-0, 6 KOs), Olexander Yegorov (7-0-1, 4 KOs), Olexander Gryschuk (7-0, 2 KOs) and Artiom Dalakian (2-0, 1 KO).

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Starting promoter Oleg Bruskov will reportedly arrange his first event of professional boxing the next Saturday in Kiev, Ukraine. There will be two clashes for vacant WBF (World Boxing Federation) Intercontinental titles.

The first one will feature a duel between two undefeated Ukrainians in veteran Vasyl Tarabarov (22-0-1, 8 KOs) and Swiss-based Vitaliy Kopylenko (16-0, 7 KOs) at middleweight limit. In the second title match-up, Timur Akhundov (12-2-1, 4 KOs) will battle Hungarian Arpad Vass (8-3, 6 KOs) for the featherweight title.