By Alexey Sukachev, May, 7, 2007
Being avenged is a sweet feeling, even when you aren’t the avenger. Former world champion Kostya Tszyu watched his first conqueror Vince Phillips fall short on Sunday in the main event of the "International Kostya Tszyu Cup" event -- named after the legendary Russian-Australian pugilist. Sturdy Alisultan Nadirbegov (16-2, 6 KOs) sustained some rough moments, but outpointed the 43-year-old former IBF light welterweight titlist Phillips (48-12-1, 34 KOs) over ten rounds via unanimous decision. The card took place at Arsenal Stadium in Tula, about 100 miles south of Moscow.
Tszyu, the creator of the tournament, met his old rival prior the fight. There was was no tension and both boxers were friendly toward each other. The ring legend expressed some interest in a colliding with Vince Phillips in a rematch of his sensational 1997 TKO loss, however Tszyu stated that he had a lot other things to solve and that he was still unsure about continuing to fight or calling it a career.
In the semi-main bout of the evening, Tszyu-promoted former amateur star Anton Solopov (now 15-1-1, 11 KOs) scored his second KO in a row. Slowly regaining his confidence after the horrible last year, the once-ranked welterweight prospect Solopov dropped Ukrainian Boris Akopov (2-3, 1 KO) twice in the third round and finished the job two rounds later. Also rising middleweight Rauf Garaev (5-1, 3 KOs) stepped up hugely in class to overpoint Mexican KO artist Fernando Mena (17-8-2, 15 KOs) over eight rounds. Other results: Damir Bulatov (1-1-1) D6 Nikita Lukin (6-8-1, 2 KOs); Artur Marabyan (4-0, 2 KOs) W4 Andrey Kokoulin (3-0, 3 KOs). The show was promoted by KT Group in association with Alexey Plotnikov.
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