Highly regarded Russian middleweight Dmitry Pirog (16-0, 13 KOs) continued his way up in the ranks with the sixth-round TKO of Estonian Sergey Melis (15-2, 6 KOs) in the only televised bout, which lasted longer than one round on Tuesday at the Yubileyniy Palace of Sports in St. Petersburg, Russia.

WBO #2, WBC #10, WBA #11 and IBF #14 160lber Pirog did little to showcase his true power. Working more like a sparring session was on, Dmitry tried to test his defensive skills against a sturdy yet limited opponent. Pirog bobbed and weaved in the center of the ring to frustrate Melis and landed his trademark left hooks and left-right uppercuts at will. The Estonian, however, proved tougher-than-expected type of opponent frequently landing big left hooks over Pirog’s raised gloves and even connecting with some telling uppercuts of his own. The Russian fighter preferred a steady and smart pressure, slowly increasing his punch output as the rounds passed by. In round six, he finally decided enough was enough and went right at Melis. He dropped him with a liver shot and soon finished him off at 2:42 with the same shot. Pirog is now WBC Baltic middleweight champion.

WBC #20 and former WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli (32-4, 25 KOs) brilliantly proved that he had some more serious fight potential in him (despite the severe crtiticism and harsh, opposite opinions) by disposing of WBC #17 Russian Alexander Kotlobay (18-2-1, 12 KOs) in the first round of a scheduled twelve for a vacant EBU cruiserweight title. Macca looked as great as during his best years. He promptly checked Kotlobay’s belly before setting some huge right hands. One of them put Kotlobay down hard in the midst of the second minute of the stanza. Kotlobay got up on shaky legs and was soon pinned to the ropes where Enzo Maccarinelli unleashed a wild fury of punches. The end came at 2:15 of the first after a major uppercut by the Welshman, which almost tore Kotlobay’s head off. A huge comeback for thought-to-be-faded Maccarinelli, who can fight Alexander Frenkel later this year.

St. Petersburg-based Tajik Sherali “The Lion” Mamadaliev (11-0, 7 KOs) didn’t tend to impress the local public so quick but one huge overhand left did the trick as it was all it took to get Belgian journeyman Herve De Luca (now 15-5-1, 7 KOs) down and out for a count of ten. Time was 0:18 of the very first round. Mamadaliev, 28, retained both his WBO European and PABA welterweight titles in this turned-to-be-a-mismatch boxing affair.
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WBO #13 light heavyweight Dmitry Sukotsky (15-1, 10 KOs) proved to be a dull and unspectacular fighter… but only in comparison with Mamadaliev, as it took him exactly 78 seconds more to completely destroy Argentinean guest Pablo Daniel Zamora Nievas (24-8-1, 15 KOs). Sukhotsky, who gave a scary night to the reigning WBO light heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer, fired a short counter left hand on the attacking Argentinean to rock him badly and dropped him in several seconds to start the beating. Zamora Nievas hardly beat the count and rose on wobbling legs to continue fighting but it took Sukhotsky just three-four more combinations to force referee Ingo Barrabas to step in and halt the action at 1:36 of the very first round. Impressive comeback for Sukhotsky, whose last clash was against Braehmer in December. Dmitry acquired a vacant IBF International 175lb title after this short but exciting victory.
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Rising super middleweight prospect Maxim Vlasov, known for his short destruction of Julius Fogle on ESPN in February, made an easy work of Ukrainian Vasyl Kondor (now 18-11-1, 5 KOs) stopping him in three one-sided rounds. 6′3” Vlasov is now 17-0 with 8 KOs.
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Light heavyweight Elis Idrisov (4-1, 1 KO) avenged his lone career loss to Andrey Barabanovs (now also 4-1, with 3 KOs) with a six-round points victory over his heated rival.
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Middleweight Ivan Maslov moved up to 6-3-1 (still no kayos) after a unanimous decision against Uzbek Serkomil Rakhimov (1-2) over six rounds.
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Junior middleweight Hurshid Abdullaev is now 3-0, 2 KOs, after the second-round kayo over Alexey Kulikov (0-1-1).