By Alexey Sukachev
Spain - In the final fight of the night, Russian light middleweight Petros Ananyan (11-0-2, 5 KOs) kept his perfect record intact with an eight-round workmanlike decision over fight veteran Innocent Anyanwu (25-20-3, 15 KOs). Anyanwu was down in the second round, and Ananyan was also briefly sat down in the fourth. Other than that it was all Ananyan's. No scores were given but BoxingScene had it 78-72 - for the Russian Armenian.
----------------------
Lanky Russian southpaw Maxim Vlasov, 30, continued his cruiserweight run with yet another impressive knockout.
WBO #7, IBF #9, WBA #10 and WBC #13 rated 200lber felt out his Hungarian opponent Tamas Lodi (18-9-2, 15 KOs) in round one before taking him out with a right uppercut at 1:45 of the second round.
Vlasov is 7-0, 5 KOs, since losing to reigning WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez and a subsequent move up in weight. He is 38-2, 21 KOs, now.
It took former amateur star Artem Chebotarev just 170 seconds to completely demolish incapable Krisztian Santa (15-9-2, 10 KOs) of Hungary in his second professional fight. Santa was down four times in a complete blowout. Chebotarev is now 2-0, 2 KOs.
----------------------
Totally inexperienced as a pro but with a reported amateur record of 185-16 Russian Ilya Blinnikov (4-0, 1 KO) manned up and made a huge leap up in his career taking on and defeating a very serious opponent in Barcelona-based Nicaraguan Eusebio Osejo (28-20-3, 8 KOs) with a split decision over six rounds.
It started bad for Blinnikov, who was briefly put down on his pants with a right hand of Osejo in round one. Fighting through Blinikov evened things up in round two, and almost dropped Osejo in the third. The Nicaraguan was very active and aggressive while Blinnikov was fighting on his way out and used his jab and left hook to counter his onrushing opponent. The fourth was also for Blinnikov but Osejo came back strong in the fifth, and both fighters gave their all in the sixth and final round. In 2016 Osejo fought to a draw with former IBF super bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez and lost a dubious split decision to ex-IBF featherweight champion Evgueny Gradovich.
----------------------
Sakhib Usarov fights rarely nowadays but when he fights his opponents are found in a wrong place at a wrong time. This time The Golden Tajik, who lives and fights in Moscow, Russia, stayed busy with a workmanlike but convincing unanimous decision over journeyman Ruslan Berchuk over eight rounds.
Southpaw Usarov, now 33 and competing at the super featherweight limit, is a world-class operator, whose only demise is that he fights very sporadically. A win over Berchuk (11-7, 4 KOs) was his third since September 2016 but he missed three years before that and fought just three times in three years before that. His best wins came against 2004 Athens gold medalist Yan Barthelemy Varela and reigning Super WBA bantamweight champion Zhanat Zhakiyanov (ZZ's only pro loss). He is 22-0, 8 KOs, now.
----------------------
Silverio Ortiz has done it again. A multi-fight 34-year old veteran from Merida, Mexico, got another upset of a raw newbie - this time against 7-0 Russian Ramzan Baysarov - to get a points win over ten heated rounds.
Baysarov (now 7-1, 3 KOs) marched forward from the get-go but Ortiz, who has faced the who's who of the boxing world, used his tricky defense to frustrate Baysarov, 27. The Russian did what he could and landed some good punches on Ortiz to virtually no effect. As rounds went by, the Mexican became more and more effective with his short outbursts. Yet, he was issued a knockdown in the seventh for what seemed to be just clowning. Nevertheless, a point was lost, and Ortiz got angry, having started to confront his foe.
The closing rounds turned into a nightmare for the Russian, who was being overwhelmed by the Mexican veteran. Late into the tenth, Ortiz dropped Baysarov with a left hook at the ropes but the Russian managed to survive the round. Final scores were: 98-92, 97-92, and 96-93 - for Ortiz, who improved to 36-19, 17 KOs.
----------------------
In a complete upset, overaged veteran Julio Acosta of Spain (by way of Cuba) sensationally annihilated 35-year old Russian light heavyweight Denis Tsaryuk (12-1, 10 KOs) eights seconds into their scheduled eight-rounder. Acosta is 42 years of ages and was 0-4 coming in after starting his career with five wins and a draw. His record now is 6-4-1, 3 KOs, and he was fighting for the first time in over three years.
----------------------
In a super featherweight opening bout of the evening, local favorite Ismael Garcia (7-0, 3 KOs) outtoughed and outboxed recent debutant Arslan Magomedov (1-1, 1 KO) over six rounds. Garcia, 26, took his time to adjust to Magomedov's style and to evaluate his opponent. He got to work in round three when Magomedov, 21, showed signs of fatigue. He engaged more into hard exchanges, thrusted to damage his foe and clearly dominated the closing rounds. Final scores were: 59-55, 59-56 and 58-56 - for the Spaniard.
ADD COMMENT VIEW COMMENTS (1)