Several boxing events took place in June and July in Russia, some featuring formerly (and/or) presently world-rated fighters. Here’s the summary of the most notable past events and some announcements.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This past Friday, July 28th, Russia’s only 2020 Olympic gold medalist Albert Batyrgaziev improved his record to solid 9-0, 6 KOs, following a methodical ten-round unanimous decision over previously undefeated Dominican lightweight Francis Villar Frometa (now 17-1, 11 KO), who was ranked #15 by the WBA coming in. Scores were: 100-90, 99-91, and 97-93 – for the Russian.

Batyrgaziev, 25, debuted as a pro in 2020 as a featherweight but then made a lengthy break to take part in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which he won. After a couple of comeback fights, Batyrgaziev made a jump up in weight last year. The change wasn’t absolutely smooth but the Russian showed he belonged to the new division in February, when he stopped former WBA super featherweight titlist Jezreel Corrales in nine rounds.

“I want to thank everyone for your support. It was felt”, commented Batyrgazeiv afterward, “I got better with each round but both of us tried to win and to out-will one another. I hope the witnesses were happy to see high-class technical boxing without any dirt from both me and Francis. I also want to thank my opponent for his performance and attitude. This said I’m quite unhappy with my performance. There’s a whole lot to be fixed in the gym after this bout. I was unable to execute my plan for the fight, so I need to improve”.

WBA #7 Batyrgaziev is scheduled to fight next on October 21 in Perm. The show was organized by Dynamo Boxing Promotions (Sergey Strelkov) in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

On July 20, heavyweight Sergey Kuzmin (19-2, 14 KOs) continued his recent winning streak by dominating Mexican import German Garcia Montes (8-6, 8 KOs) over eight rounds in a warm-up fight. The fight was scheduled for ten. Kuzmin easily outboxed his opponent, dropped him in round eight, and also cut Montes badly, resulting in a stoppage after eight complete rounds.

On the same card, lightweight Alexey Mazur (9-0, 5 KOs) decisioned upset-minded Argentinean Carlos Daniel Cordoba (16-10, 4 KOs) unanimously over eight rounds.

The show was promoted by Iron&Gloves Promotions with the support of the Russian Boxing Federation. It took place in Saint Petersburg.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before the main event of the St. Petersburg event, a major fight was announced between cruiserweights Alexey Papin (15-1, 14 KOs) and Soslan Asbarov (4-0, 1 KO), who is also known as a bare-knuckle competitor. The certain date and venue of this fight are still to be defined.

WBA #7 Papin, 35, is a hard-hitting slugger with huge experience both in boxing and kickboxing. The latter was his start, and Papin transitioned to pugilism just seven and a half years ago. His progress was rapid, culminating firstly in the first-round blowout of 25-4 former Ukrainian prodigy Ismayl Sillah in his ninth fight, and then an ambitious challenge of future WBC cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu two fights after that in the 200lb WBC eliminator; Makabu narrowly escaping with a majority decision.

Papin rebounded with an emphatic stoppage of Ruslan Fayfer in 2020, while 2022 was a year of the Balkan transition for him, as he blitzed both Dilan Prasovic and Damir Beljo in two rounds apiece. 

Asbarov, 31, started just a year ago. He unanimously outpointed a long-time fringe cruiserweight contender Dmitry Kudryashov (25-5) over eight rounds in September 2022 in his second fight, then blitzed Joel Shojgreen (14-3) in one three months later, and then got his best win over once-beaten TBRB-rated American Brandon Glanton (17-1) in March 2023, with a majority decision.  

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

On July 6th, ELLI promotional group staged a nice-packed little event in Kaspiysk, Dagestan, Russia, with several local unbeaten taking their parts in the show.

35-year-old super middleweight Rustam Islamov (6-0, 6 KOs) became Russia’s national champion by blitzing veteran Sergey Gorokhov (13-7-2, 9 KOs) in just 111 seconds. Gorokhov was also down at the beginning of the second minute of the round.

Heavyweight Basir Abakarov, 31, improved to 11-0, 9 KOs, with the third-round stoppage of Irish Sean Turner (12-4, 8 KOs), for whom this was the first fight in over five years. Turner was down twice in round two, and the bout was halted at 0:57 of the third.

Light Middleweight Shakhabas Makhmudov, is also 11-0, 9 KOs, following a unanimous decision over eight six rounds against Belarussian import Dmitry Atrokhov (16-15, 7 KOs), who is 1-15 since 2017 but was stopped just once before. Scores were the same (60-54) from every judge.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

On June 22nd, ELLI promotional group staged another show at the locally famous Krilya Sovetov Arena in Moscow. 

In the main event, former cruiserweight contender Yuri Kashinskiy (22-3, 19 KOs), now 37, got his finest win in the last few years by outpointing previously unbeaten compatriot Timur Sakulin, 29, over ten hard-fought rounds. Scores were: 97-92, 96-93, and 95-94 – for Kashinskiy. His opponent was deducted a point in round seven for spitting out his mouthpiece.

Sakulin drops down to 12-1, 7 KOs, while Kashinskiy acquires a previously vacant Eurasian Boxing Parliament 200lb title.

In another notable collision, Russia-based Azerbaijani Rauf Karaev (7-0, 3 KOs) spent just 70 seconds blowing out sadly degraded former fringe contender Dmitry Miklhailenko (23-14, 10 KOs). For Mikhaylenko, it was his eleventh consecutive loss and ninth straight by way of stoppage.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rising heavyweight Mark Petrovsky (5-0, 4 KOs) will fight next on Aug. 18th in Moscow against former WBC title challenger Kevin “Kingpin” Johnson (36-21-2, 20 KOs). Johnson, 43, is nineteen years older than Petrovsky and much more experienced. He has been fighting mostly in Germany recently, which included his most recent major win – the seventh-round stoppage of former cruiserweight king Yoan Pablo Hernandez in an ill-fate comeback attempt of the Cuban in 2020. He is best known for his one-sided loss to Vitali Klitschko in December 2009 in one of the lamest performances in recent memory.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

On August 4th, middleweight Shamil Khataev (10-0, 3 KOs), younger brother of Imam Khataev (2020 Olympics bronze medalist), takes on the stiffest challenge of his career, when he collides with Argentinean Emiliano Ezequiel Pucheta (18-6-1, 8 KOs) at Luzhniki in Moscow.

Pucheta is coming off two biggest successes of his career – a draw against 16-1-2 formerly rated Magomed Madiev and TKO 9 victory over 18-0-1 Juan Manuel Taborda. Former two-division champion Marcos Rene Maidana will reportedly work Pucheta’s corner in this fight. The event will be promoted by PRAVDA Boxing.