By Alexey Sukachev, June, 23, 2006

Things are going pretty nice right now for Russian-based Armenian lightweight Armen Sargsyan and originally-Russian cruiser Mikhail Nasyrov as both scored knockouts against tough opponents and captured their first belts in career yesterday in casino “Crystal”, Moscow. The same couldn’t be said about super featherweight Alexander Hrulev, who has struggled a lot on his way of defeating less than mediocre opponent the same day in casino “Vodoley”, Ekaterinburg, Russia.

Nasyrov fight was the main event of the evening, arranged by “PuShka” promotional company, co-headed by former perennial contender Andrey Shkalikov (apparently known in USA by close loss to WBA champion Frankie Liles). Kind of joke but Nasyrov’s rival Teymuraz Kekelidze had fought Shkalikov thrice (twice in 1994 and once in 2000), having lost on points each time. Despite having far less-than-stellar record of 15-22-1 with 12 KOs prior the bout (fifteen losses in a row with the only draw in the middle of the cold streak) and not having a victory for eight years, 40-years old Russian-based Georgian Kekelidze was a tough competitor as the minority of his losses were inside the distance and all of them were by the way of technical knockout.

However, Nasyrov, originally from Chelyabinsk, Russia, appeared to be quite a different fruit in garden. Russian cruiser was never out of it, easily battering short 177-cm Kekelidze from the distance. As the bout progressed, Nasyrov’s pressure became more and more annoying and unavoidable, while Kekelidze faded quickly. Finally, the showdown was stopped by Teymuraz’ cornermen right after the 10th round of scheduled twelve. With the victory Mikhail Nasyrov (now 14-0, 9 KO) captured local WBC CISBB and Slavic Countries cruiserweight belt, specifically designed for Eastern Europe fighters. He has also established himself as another promising Russian prospect in this division in addition to twice-beaten Nikolay Popov, once-beaten Valery Brudov and Pavel Melkomian and still-to-be-beaten Grigory Drozd (with the last two, colliding for WBC international title on the 25th of July) and current NABF champion Vadim Tokarev.

In co-feature bout of the show Russian-based Armen Sargsyan made a double statement by easily handling experienced journeyman Andrey Devyataykin, giving him another loss on his record list and capturing two titles simultaneously. 31-years old Devyataykin (14-14-1, 5 KO before the fight), Chelyabinsk native, was Russian lightweight champion coming in to the bout, while Sargsyan was just a prospect with the only notable Marian Leondraliu on his list. Nevertheless, despite being a slight underdog, Sargsyan (8-0, 4 KOs before the fight) was in control of the action during the whole bout. There were many knockdowns for each side, but most of them were just slips in fact. However, in round eight Armenian sent his foe on the canvas with the great right hook. Devyataykin was able to beat the count, but he lasted only two more, until Sargsyan decked him one more time and forced referee Victor Panin to stop the contest.

Undercard:

Agali Alyshev (1-5, 0 KO) PTS 6 Igor Petrenko (pro debut)

Doner Rakhmatullaev (4-1, 3 KO) D 6 Andrey Bogdanov (5-1, 2 KO)

Soyfudin Barakhoev (0-1, 0 KO) SD 6 Alexander Romashko (1-0, 0 KO)

Once-beaten before Alexander Hrulev of Ekaterinburg, Russia, fighting in his hometown, continued his controversial rise with the hard-fought eight-round split decision over unknown buddy Maksim Smirnov (1-0-1, 0 KO prior the fight) this Wednesday at casino “Vodoley”. With the victory Alexander improved his record to 13-1-1, 9 KOs, though hardly improved his reputation. 28-years old featherweight had got a great start of his professional career by knocking out first nine rivals, but then suddenly struggled to continue his KO streak. In April 2005 Hrulev was awarded with the controversial unanimous decision over journeyman Alexey Volchan, and then lost Russian featherweight belt to Vyachelav Gusev on points. Last October Alexander Hrulev was taken to a draw with fading but still dangerous Columbian Mauricio Pastrana, despite losing the fight on reporters’ cards. The way Alex’s career developing right now must be a bell, ringing for Hrulev to change something in either his camp or boxing style.

Undercard:

Timur Shailezov (1-0) UD 4 Victor Rashkin (pro debut)

Konstantin Rusanov (5-0-1, 1 KO) TKO 3 Sergey Bogdanov (pro debut)

Anatoly Klichev (2-0-1) UD 4 Evgeny Peshekhonov (0-14-1)

Last Sunday another event was held in Samara, Russia. In the main bout of the evening rising super middleweight prospect David Gogiya improved his record to 15-1, 4 KOs easily outpointing pro debuting Alexander Stetsurenko over six rounds in warm-up. David was in control of the fight, displaying less than a half of his potential. Gogiya is scheduled to fight in Germany, perhaps for the EBU title against current titlist Mger Mkrtchian this autumn.