31-year old Ramzan Baysarov acquired a vacant WBC CISBB light middleweight title with the fifth-round stoppage of late sub Michel Marcano of Venezuela. Time of stoppage was 1:29 of round five.

 

Baysarov was originally scheduled to fight aging Mexican journeyman Silverio Ortiz - the only boxer to defeat him as a pro - in a rematch, but the latter was substituted by Marcano. The Venezuelan fighter started with a headbutt, which looked to be intentional and continued to use a grain of illegale tactics after that. In the boxing department, he was doing well too, avoiding danger by utilizing sneaky side steps and excellent upper body movement. Baysarov, as aggressive as he was, couldn't land anything of note, though he was more active than Marcano anyway.

 

Baysarov did better in the fourth, only for Marcano to seize control at the start of round five. It didn’t last long, however; Marcano, 30, suffered an injury to his left hand in suffering an unfortunate loss in anti-climactic fashion.

 

Baysarov improves to 12-1, 7 KOs; Marcano falls to 21-3-1 (18KOs).

In a middleweight scrap, Luiza Davydova (4-2, 2 KOs) overwhelmed bigger but softer pro debutant Anastasia Kruzhkova (0-1) over five incomplete rounds. Davydova made up for her size disadvantage by producing a high-octane punch output. Kruzhkova was unable to keep her aggressive foe at bay. The 10-time Moscow kickboxing champion was on shaky legs by the fourth round and was continuously pummelled until referee Sergey Litunov stopped her from further punishment at 1:01 of round five.

 

Always entertaining Tajik lightweight Bakhodur Usmonov (2-0) lost the first couple of rounds in a two-way action fight against previously undefeated Kazakhstani Bektas Kassenay but came back strong after that to score a close unanimous decision over six rounds.

 

Shorter Kassenay (now 4-1, 1 KO) winged big shots in starting rounds, and Usmonov struggled to adjust. As soon as he had finally adjusted to Kassenay, he began to connect with big bombs of his own. Kassenay faded later on and despite landing some good shots in return, it was Usmonov who painted the picture of the fight. Usmonov finished the fight very strong, cornering Kassenay and landing several unanswered blows.

WBC #4 rated light heavyweight Igor Mikhalkin paced himself in breaking down Denis Tsaryuk en route to a 4th round stoppage win.

In a battle of southpaws, 39-year-old former amateur standout Tsaryuk served as the aggressor. Mikhalkin—four years his junior—delivered intelligence and finesse. For two rounds he was scoring well while not standing his ground but moving laterally out of the harm's way. His crisp right jab peppered Tsaryuk's face, and the latter couldn't land anything big.

Tsaryuk finally found a place for his punches in the third. Just when he was seemingly getting back to the fight, Tsaryuk was floored courtesy of a left hook to the liver. The end was a matter of time. In the fourth, Mikhalkin softened his opponent with some sneaky jabs, then landed several huge punches in succession, forcing referee Roman Petrov's intervention.

Mikhalkin moves up to 24-2 (11 KOs), and breaks his 20-month absence from the ring. Tsaryk (12-5, 10 KOs) has lost his fifth straight.

Light middleweight Pavel Sosulin (4-0, 1 KO) scored a six-round unanimous decision over Belarussian journeyman Dmitry Atrokhov (16-9, 7 KOs). Sosulin, 24, was forced to work hard for a victory over his opponent. Atrokhov, 32, was landing some solid combinations but Sosulin's body of work was just a notch better. BoxingScene had it 59-56 for Sosulin. Atrokhov is just 1-9 in his past ten fights after starting his career with 15 consecutive wins.

Olga "The Silk Princess" Gurova (2-1) showed flexibility in changing her game plan under fire and much grit and character against hard-punching veteran flyweight Elena Savelyeva but it didn't prevent her from losing an eight-round unanimous decision over eight two-minute rounds.

Savelyeva wasn't as refined in her approach as Gurova but she was fast and powerful in delivery of well-placed, mostly head power-punches. Gurova tried to retaliate but Savelyeva paid little attention to her resistance, had Gurova's nose bleeding by later rounds and easily cruised to a convincing unanimous decision over eight rounds. She is now 6-1, 4 KOs.

It took light heavyweight Artem Ageev (4-0, 2 KOs) just thirty seconds to land a hard overhand left hook to the whiskers of Iranian import Mobin Godarzi (0-3), who went down crushingly and was unable to beat the count in time.