By Alexey Sukachev

Russian welterweight Dmitry "The Mechanic" Mikhaylenko (22-1, 10 KOs) revived his career after an unexpected loss to Charles Manyuchi of Zimbabwe this May and continued Breidis Prescott's downward spiral with a knockout win in seven rounds. Mikhaylenko also captured a vacant WBC Silver Interim welterweight title.

The fight started sensationally with the Russian going down midst into the opening round after a hellacious left jab by the Columbian, which saw Dmitry going down and twisting around while he tried to get up. While up, Mikhaylenko still expierenced serious problems getting hit a bit too much from a degrading fighter. Dmitry's coach Andrey Lepikhin (the father of Vasily Lepikhin) urged his protege to start working in the second, and that was what the Russian did.

Mikhaylenko switched on his trademark style, starting to work seriously. He threw punches in bunches, and slower Prescott was unable both to land his hard jab often (to keep the Mechanic at bay). Prescott tried to land something big, and he tagged the Russian several times but Mikhaylenko weathered the storm.

With each passed round, Prescott's punch output became lower and Mikhaylenko's punch rate got higher. Prescott was still dangerous up until the end but was rapidly gassing out. Finally, in the seventh, the Colombian ate several hard punches, wobbled backwards and went down through the ropes, while trying to avoid Dmitry's left hand. He got up but was unable to continue, losing for the ninth time in his career. His record is now 30-9, with 22 KOs. His last significant win was more tha four years agot against Francisco Figueroa.

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WBO #2 and IBF #10 rated super featherweight Evgueny Chuprakov (17-0, 9 KOs) acquired a vacant WBO InterContinental title with a gutsy win over fellow unbeaten Jeremiah Nakathila (now 11-1, 7 KOs) in a twelve-rounder. The Russian fighter showed flaws, however, and confirmed there's plenty of work to be done in order to improve and hone his skills.

Nakathila has previously fought exclusively in Namibia but had solid wins over locally renowned fighters Jasper Seroka and Wilson Masamba. He tried to use his height advantage and sudden uppercuts to trouble the home fighter but Chuprakov was able to absorb his punches without major negative effect. Nevertheless, Nakathila gave fits to the Russian answering punches, showing remarkable flexibility at the ropes and rocking Chuprakov in various encounters. The Russian outworked the Namibian and landed more punches but they were lighter than those of Nakathila. Final scores were: 114-114, 116-112, and 118-110 - a majoriy decision in favour of Chuprakov, whose defense wasn't exceptionally good, an who will have trouble fighting more skilled opponents.

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Feeling his age at 39 and all his tear and wear after the 22-year long career, Filipino veteran Dennis Laurente (50-8-5, 30 KOs) has lost his third bout in a row - this time to up-an-coming, hard-charging Russian fighter Magomed Kurbanov (9-0, 7 KOs). Laurente, always resilient and rock-chinned, was never in ganger of being stopped but was outpunched and outboxed by a younger fighter, losing a unanimous decision. Kurbanov, 21, aded a vacant WBC Eurasia Pacific Boxing Council light middleweight title to already owned WBC Asian Boxing Coubcil Silver belt. Laurente has never been stopped over the course of his bright career.

21-year old Russian super featherweight Mikhail Alexeev added WBC Asian Boxing Council Silver 130lb title to WBO Youth title with a stoppage win over former Kazakh prospect Mirzhan Zhaksylykov. 31-year old Zhaksylykov fought for the third time after six years off the ring and showed some rustiness. Alexeev pressed his opponent until the fight was stopped after the eighth round. Alexeev is now 9-0, 4 KOs, while Zhaksylykov drops down to 10-2, 4 KOs.

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Late bloomer Pavel Malikov of Lyubertsy, Russia, retained his WBC Asian Boxing Council lighteweight title with his best career win, stopping Filipino import Carlo Magali after eight hard-fought rounds. Russian national champion Malikov improved to 9-0, with 3 KOs, and he is now 5-0 since coming back after several years in prison. Magali is now 20-9-3, 10 KOs.

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Tajik import Shavkhat Rakhimov (7-0, 5 KOs) continued his professional education, getting his first title - a vacant WBO Youth I/C super featherweight title - with the fourth-round stoppage against Jerry Castroverde (9-4, 5 KOs) of Philippines. Castrovere has never been stopped before that.

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Featherweight Mark Urvanov, 20, acquired a vacant WBO Asia Pacific Youth featherweight title, halting Filipino Marvin Esquierdo (7-2-1, 6 KOs) in six rounds. Esquierdo was down twice in round six right before the stoppage. Urvanov improves to 8-1, 5 KOs.