Czech boxer Lukas Konecny, right, lands a punch during his middleweight fight against France's Christophe Karagoz © AP

Czech light middleweight Lukas Konecny (40-3, 20 KOs) continued his route to a second world title opportunity with a spectacular stoppage of French journeyman Christophe Karagoz (17-15-4, 4 KOs) on Friday night at the Soccio Center in Hannover, Germany. The WBO #2, IBF #5 and WBA #15 ranked fighter dropped his opponent in the first round and continued the bout in a well-measured pace, effectively blocking his opponent’s attack and scoring numerously in spurts. In round eight, Konecny finally took the fight over and dropped the Frenchman three times with the body shots until the stoppage, which came at 2:39 of the eighth stanza.
—–
Multi-title super middleweight champion Natascha Ragosina (21-0, 12 KOs) retained her WBC and WBA belts with a conviencing ten-round unanimous decision over American challenger Laura Ramsey (9-4, 4 KOs). Boxing in an exotic mix of the Frisian national female costume and schoolgirl uniform, tall and busy Ragosina kept her opponent at distance, scoring with jabs and adding powerful combinations while taking little in return. Ramsey went down in round two after a right hook by Ragosina, but the referee didn’t rule it as a knockdown. Despite taking a major punishment the brave American pressed forward anyway, throwing wild swings but missing almost all of her blows. Both boxers faded in late rounds but the Russian champion just didn’t left her opponent any chance of upset. At the end all three judges had it unanimously in favor of the most titled Russian boxer (both male and female) in modern history: 100-90, 99-91 and 98-93.
—–
Junior featherweight Esther Schouten (24-5-1, 12 KOs) is once again the junior featherweight champion of the WIBF, claiming the vacant belt with a tenth round TKO over Bettina Völker (6-4-3, 2 KOs). Referee Holger Wiemann waved off the one-sided duel at 1:39 of the last round. The 31-year-old Schouten previously held this title from 2002-2004.
—–
In an upset, Nigerian welterweight Anthony Ukeh (4-3-2. 2 KOs) scored a fifth round TKO over the highly regarded Oliver Güttel (16-2-1, 9 KOs). The bout was stopped due to a bad cut over the left eye of Güttel. The fight was supposed to be redemption for Güttel after their first fight ended in a draw.
—–
Unbeaten welterweight Tommy Altmann moved to 10-0, 3 KOs after a six round unanimous decision over Andreas Malion (1-3-1).

fightnews.com