Grozny - It took heavyweight Abdul-Kerim "The Chechen Lion" Edilov (4-0, 4 KOs) just 43 seconds to completely annihilate the Ghanaian import Richard Lartey (14-5, 11 KOs) for his fourth consecutive first-round stoppage. Edilov landed a powerful left hand to the whiskers, which had Lartey down and out instantly. The Ghanaian, who went distance with Nathan Gorman a year ago, was taken out of the ring on a stretcher.

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Shamil Khataev, the younger brother of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics light heavyweight bronze medalist and a solid amateur fighter himself, scored a close, tactical decision over Zurab Kvitsiani (8-2, 2 KOs) in a ten-rounder for a vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council middleweight belt.

Kvitsiani and Khataev were both aggressive in spurts, exchanging roles as often as they engaged in heated encounters throughout the fight. Neither boxer showed superiority, as both had their share of moments and showed various strong sides of their boxing skills in those moments. There were no knockdowns, and neither fighter was seriously rocked, wobbled or dazed despite putting his all into the fight.

After ten rounds scores were very close: 97-94, 96-94 and 96-95 - for Shamil Khataev, who improved to 8-0, with 2 KOs.

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In one of the best domestic fights of 2021, knockout artist Rizvan Elikhanov dropped determined import Artur Osipov in the first round but was forced to work extremely hard to get a hard-earned win over the ten-round distance in a fight that could have gone either way. Elikhabov, who stopped each of his last twelve opponents, outpointed Osipov via a unanimous decision: 97-92, 97-92 and 96-93 - and captured a vacant WBA Continental middleweight title.

Elikhanov, 23, rightfully nicknamed "The Tank" in a pre-fight promo, acted accordingly. The stocky power-puncher moved to Osipov, who showed more sides and aspects of his game by transforming himself from a slugger into a boxer. It didn't prevent Elikhabov from scoring a flash knockdown in the first round but helped him after that. Osipov moved backwards, circled laterally around the Chechen fighter, who applied all of his power in each of his punches. Osipov, 32, was more diverse combining hard hits with relatively weak blows. His best weapon was a right uppercut whenever Elikhanov moved into the close quarters. He also used a left jab to keep the Chechen boxer honest at the distance and, specifically, a powerful left hand to the liver.

Elikhanov chose to eat many shots for one big shot of his own, and he did land a number of hard blows that forced Osipov into a short retreat. He also ate his share of bombs but was mostly ignorant of them, showing no signs of pain and continuing to charge forward with vicious blows.

Osipov looked good in rounds two, three and four, while Elikhanov had big rounds five and seven. The fight was mostly close, and the scoring depended heavily on the judges' perception. Nevertheless, Elikhanov faded a bit in the closing rounds, while Osipov had the good ninth and especially a huge round ten to stay firmly in contention. It hasn't helped him in the end but he had nothing to be ashamed of despite going down to 17-4-2, with 11 KOs. Elikhanov (13-0, 12 KOs) showed grit, determination and character but he has still much to learn about the game.

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Hard-charging, power-punching kayo artist Imam Khataev (1-0, 1 KOs) made a destructive professional debut by stopping Azerbaijani native Ismat Eynullaev (14-6, 11 KOs) in less than three minutes of the first round.

Khataev, the bronze medalist of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the light heavyweight division, immediately got to his opponent and started beating him to the punch. A big right hand wobbled Eynullaev badly midst into the second minute. Khataev turned around - arguably thinking of a standing eight count for his opponent - while Eynullaev spit off his mouthguard to give himself more time. Referee Alexander Kalinkin didn't issue a count but deducted a point from the Azerbaijani and let the fight go. It didn't last much longer, as Khataev immediately punctuated his victory with a wild flurry that had Ismat defenseless on the ropes.

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Former professional kickboxer Turpal Tokaev (1-0), also known both in Turkey and in Russia as an actor, tested professional waters and was forced to work hard to outpoint Ukrainian heavyweight import German Skobenko (5-9-2, 2 KOs) unanimously over four rounds. Tokaev punched hard but his punch rate dropped down after the midpoint, and he was considerably drained by the final bell. Still, Tokaev has done enough to prove his superiority over Skobenko, who has lost his last eight fights.

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Young Chechen middleweight Beshto Shavlaev (2-0) displayed superior boxing skills by outpointing Uzbek-born Russia-bred pressure fighter Ravshan Ergashev (6-3-1, 2 KOs) over six rounds. Ergashev was as aggressive as usual but failed to get to his elusive opponent. He had his nose bleeding and was outpointed unanimously, though no scores were announced.