 Dmitri Sukhotskiy |
Sukhotsky lost a tough and close decision to the WBO champion in December 2009 being on a wrong end of a dubious decision (by referee Mike Ortega) not to stop that fight in round nine after about 30 unanswered punches, landed by the Russian. Oppositely, Kuziemski was defeated in a dominant fashion, losing a TKO 11 in August 2009.
It was obvious before this contest, that Sukhotskiy was a better puncher with a harder chin. On the other hand, the Polish boxer was thought to be more refined and more tricky fighter with his vast experience both in pros and in amateurs (Kuziemski was 2004 Athens Olympian for his Homeland). So it came by surprise when Sukhotsky went down seconds into the fight after a right hand by the guest fighter. It wasn't a real knockdown though but more had to do with a bad balance of the Russian. Kuziemski was a sharper and a busier fighter of the two, nevertheless, with an assortment of right hands to support his success.
Round two proved to be a good answer on a question of who was a bigger puncher in the ring. Sukhotsky landed his trademark right cross over a lazy left of Kuziemski to bust his nose and continued to dominate through the entire round. Round three was also in his favour as he stormed through Kuziemski's weak defense with his big punches. The Polish fighter was wobbled in the midst of the third but was able to make it to the bell.
The fourth and the fifth stanza were pretty even. Aleksy once again found his pace and landed by far more blows than Sukhotsky. However, the Russian fighter compensated his low punch output by throwing more qualitative leather to the Pole's face and body. Finally, in the sixth, Dmitry sensed his opportunity and started to land punches at will. Kuziemski started to wobble under the fire, was almost doubled by several big body hooks by the local slugger and continued to wilt with an increasing rate. At this point, referee Mickey Vann stepped in and waved the fight off. Time was 1:34 of the sixth. Sukhotsky, 29, further established himslef as an important force in the light heavyweight division, while Kuziemski, 33, can consider other possibilites.
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Italia-based "El Salsero Cubano" Brunet Zamora (20-0-1, 9 KOs) was very lucky to keep his undefeated record intact with a highly controversial majority draw against up-and-coming Russian prospect Denis Shafikov (25-0-1, 14 KOs). It was an entertaining affair with a great intrinsical tension, chess-like boxing tactics and heated exchanges in the centre of the ring as well as at the ropes, but the final outcome was at least dubious as local fighter seemed to be a definite winner of the contest.
This battle was highly tensed but had a "chess" label all over it. Both boxers - 25-year old tricky southpaw Shafikov, who is co-guided by Jab Promotions and P3 Boxing, and 36-year old orthodox technician Zamora - prefer tactical boxing over a wild brawl with wide swings and reckless defense. Shafikov started the bout a bit sharper using his right jab to shift the Italian Cubano from his fire range while landing straight left hands. Zamora, boxing more on the outside, tried to catch Shafikov with big left hooks but failed to do so at the starters. He got better in the second finding a rhythm to upset "Genghis Khan" with some fast combinations.
In the third, Shafikov started to outbox WBA #3 Zamora by using clever in-and-out strategy with quick left hands on his way in and tight guard on the way out. Zamora was often frustrated by Shafikov's speed and precision. The Russian fighter took at least several next rounds with a wild mixture of left uppercuts (at close range) and left hooks. Zamora had his moments but they were sparse. By continuous use of body punches Shafikov forced his opponent to breathe hard at the beginning of the sixth. That particular stanza was the Russian's best in the fight as he just couldn't miss his opponent with overhand rights and left hooks. The Italian import was lucky not to be decked in the round.
Shafikov continued to dominate over the next three rounds by outworking and outpunching his opponent. Zamora tried some luck with straight right hands but it was only in the tenth round when he had finally caught his second wind. Shafikov, with a heavy breath and a bit rigid legs, was forced into brawl, ate several hard punches and lost a couple of rounds at the end though not so clear as he dominated the main part of the bout. It was a taste of a victory and a feeling around the audience that Denis Shafikov had clearly done enough to win this fight.
That's said, the final outcome came as a shocker for local publics. Judges Mickey Vann (United Kingdom) and Ove Ovesen (Denmark) had it a dubious draw - 114-114, while
the third judge Torben Seemann Hansen (Denmark) astonishingly saw the fight in favor of Zamora - 113-115. BoxingScene (as well as a majority of local observers and experts) scored it quite opposite: 117-112 - for upset Shafikov, who has also maintained his undefeated record but suffered his first blemish at the same time. Referee in the ring was Jorge Martinez (Spain). Zamora retained his WBA I/C title.
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Armenian crowd-pleaser and WBO #1 middleweight Gennady Martirosyan can be everything but a boring fighter. He is always expected to turn a usual tune-up into a gun skirmish with fists being his firearms. And tonight he lived up to these expectations with another scintillating performance in the second defense of his WBO European title against Portuguese veteran Vitor Sa.
Martirosyan, 30, used a bit of Arthur Abraham-like approach utlizing a tight block and pressing his opponent around the ring with a steady diet of big punches. Heavily-tattooed Sa, 37, was able to avoid heated exchanges in the first but was nevertheless dominated by sharper and faster St. Petersburg-based Armenian. The second round saw Martirosyan taking a moment of rest, and Sa started to throw punches of his own immediately firing Gennady up and turning this contest into the brawl.
The third round found Martirosyan in his usual mode - with a severe bloodlust and an obvious desire to induce a war in the ring. That was exactly what he had done ,making a street brawl alongside a shoot-out in the squared circle. Being a bit reckless Martirosyan got an opportunity to land his most telling blows, while Sa was unlucky to learn that his foe was both light-fisted to produce an immediate knockout and sharp and aggressive enough not to miss any punches. Sa went down after a monstorus right hand by Gennady. He barely got up but Martirosyan was all over him and landing not at will but in increasingly automatic string of punches. He went down on a combination of punches, was up at "seven" but in no condition to continue thus forcing referee Jose Martinez to stop the action at 2:42 of the third round.
Martirosyan moves up to 21-2, with 10 KOs, and he can be the next-in-line to fight former champion Kelly Pavlik in a final WBO eliminator. Overmatched Sa slips down to 22-5, with 4 stoppage wins.
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Coming off a crushing defeat from Enzo Maccarinelli in April, WBC #16 cruiserweight Alexander Kotlobay (19-2-1, 13 KOs) failed to impress but ultimately got the seventh-round stoppage of unusually game Hungarian Laszlo Hubert (28-7, 18 KOs).
Kotlobay, 30, didn't look his former self being overcautious and inconsistent in starting rounds. His opponent didn't do anything of note as well giving the Russian fighter a nice opportunity to showcase himself but Kotlobay failed to deliver producing very little fireworks. He tried to find a spot for his right hand but 35-year old Magyar southpaw smartly avoided any heat and covered well behind quite a tight guard. He got even more aggressive than Kotlobay in round four, cornered his Russian opponent and landed several big left hooks to get Kotlobay's attention.
A sudden change has finally awoken Kotlobay and forced him to work harder in the fifth. The Russian boxer landed a couple of right hooks to shake Hubert and to sap his convinience. In the sixth Hubert was down but referee Alexander Artemiev ruled it a slip. Finally, in the seventh round Kotlobay caught his second wind and started delivering really painful punches. He pinned Hubert to the ropes and dropped him with a major right hand. The Hungarian import stood up but the local fighter continued his assault, landed a left hook and made Hubert to turn his back to the opponent thus forcing referee to put an end to this contest.
Official time of stoppage was 2:15 of the seventh round. Kotlobay acquired a vacant WBC Baltic Sea title after this victory. Preliminary scores after the fourth round read as follows: 40-36 (thrice) with BScene having it 39-37 - after the 4th, and 59-55 - after the 6th. Former WBC flyweight king Yuri Arbachakov worked as a judge for this contest.
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Kyrgyz light middleweight Hurshid Abdullaev (5-0, 2 KOs) scored a harder-than-expected six-round majority decision over former prospect-turned-journeyman Eduard Romanchuk (3-5, 2 KOs) from Moscow, Russia, but originally from Strii, Ukraine. Romanchuk came to the ring as a late substitute for Rauf Garaev and had four consecutive losses to spoil a nice start to his pro career. He was also decked in the first round after a big left hand by Abdullaev thus producing a taste of a possible mismatch to be held in the ring.
However, Romanchuk found his rhythm in the second and started to be more aggressive and more dangerous with his slugging strategy. He went inside throwing wide left hooks and wisely clinched with bigger Amdullaev to avoid any necessary exchanges. He was also a better fighter in the third stanza while the fourth round was rather even with no one getting an edge. Feeling the contest wasn't coming his way, the Kyrgyz battler gradually increased the tempo in the fifth but lost some steam and allowed Romanchuk to take round six. No scorecards were announced. BoxingScene had it 57-57 - a draw.
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In a heated fight between two young light heavyweight guns, Moldavian Igor Conobeev improved his record to 6-0, 1 KO, after a smart unanimous decision over Elis Idrisov (4-2, 1 KO). Idrisov chose to be an aggressor and tried to stalk smoother Conobeev around the ring. But he wasn't too active and, oppositely, he was too inconsistent to hit the Moldavian often enough. Conobeev relied on his right hand as his money punch and simply outworked Idrisov for the first three rounds. Southpaw Idrisov improved his guard in the fourth and started to tag Conobeev better and at a higher rate. Conobeev was once again a sharper fighter in the fifth. Both boxers went at each other in the sixth and last round, and Idrisov found some success with cleaner and harder blows to rock his opponent a couple of times. It wasn't enough, however, to get him a nod on judges' scorecards.
Referee Nikolay Talalakin deducted a point from each fighter in rounds four and six. Conobeev was briefly down in the fifth from what was ruled a slip. No scores were announced but BoxingScene saw it 57-55 - for Igor Conobeev.
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Former two-time world title challenger Yuri Barashyan (26-5, 18 KOs), 31, of Ukraine came back after more than a year and a half of a forced hiatus and stopped 47-year old heavyweight Yuri Potanin (0-2) in six rounds. Light heavyweight southpaw Barashyan twice fought for major belts, dropping wide decisions to Hugo Hernan Garay (WBA) in July 2008 and to Zsolt Erdei (WBO) in January 2009. He hasn't fought since the last bout.
Klitschko Nervous: Readies To Replace Chisora if Needed
