Fedor Papazov, a Russian veteran lightweight of Greek heritage, revived his once-promising career with a much needed win over tough but unlucky Kyrgyz Akzhol Sulaimanbek Uulu, scoring a close majority decision over ten rounds. The fight was the main event of the evening at the RCC Boxing Academy in Ekaterinburg, Russia, promoted by the RCC Boxing Promotions and its boxing head German Titov.

Papazov, 36, started slowly, while Akzhol, 31, was busy and scored with some potent jabs in the first. Papazov's strategy was to bring heat to his Kyrgyz opponent and to find his range and his moment to land his trademark hard shots. He got better in the second, although Sulaimanbek Uulu was also successful by making sidesteps in crucial moments. Round three was even better for the Russian Greek as he poured on with hard shots and rocked the Kyrgyz fighter a bit with solid right hand and left hooks.

Rounds four and five were relatively even. Papazov missed often with his money shots but, nevertheless, landed harder when he was able to. Akzhol connected at higher frequency but lacked power to stop Papazov from doing damage. Fedor was however stopped by his declining stamina and considerably slowed down after the sixth. That would have been fatal had something more crucial to the outcome of the contest not happened. It happened though when Akzhol suffered a very bad hematoma over his right eyebrow. It was rapidly growing in size and severity, and by the tenth became very similar to the injury sustained by Hasim Rahman in his fight versus Evander Holyfield.

Sensing both his health and his fight prospects were in danger, Akzhol utilized lateral movement in the ninth, which soon turned into a fast retreat. Papazov tried to stalk Sulaimanbek but had limited success due to a certain disparity in foot speed. Still, he did more than Akzhol in the last two rounds. Those rounds would prove to be decisive. Also, Sulaimanbek was on the brink of being stopped with one minute left in the tenth, when ultra experienced referee Alexander Kalinkin indicated he was quite unsatisfied with Akzhol's hematoma and asked for a ringside physician. The Kyrgyz fighter was lucky in that moment to be allowed to go on.

While one judge had it even (95-95), the other two had it close for Fedor Papazov (now 24-4, with 14 KOs): 97-93 and 96-94. Akzhol Sulaimanbek Uulu suffered his second defeat in the last three fights and dropped down to 16-2, 9 KOs. An emotional Papazov dedicated his win to his wife and a baby girl, Athena, who was born just four days ago. As a present, he earned with his own fists, WBC supervisor Oxana Seminishina belted him with the previously vacant WBC ABCO lightweight title.

Undercard

Featherweight Ivan Chirkov (7-0, no KOs) proved once again he has skills but very limited power in a convincing eight-round unanimous decision over Tajik native Usmonali Abdulloev (1-2-1, 1 KO).

Huge (6'2'') super middleweight Nikita Zon' (3-0, 3 KOs) proved his power is for real, when he became the first ever to stop tough-as-nails journeyman Maxim Smirnov (8-12-3, 4 KOs) inside the distance. Zon' rocked Smirnov several times, specifically during the one-sided fifth, to force a corner stoppage after five complete rounds of scheduled eight. Smirnov hasn't gone down though.

Tajikistan-born, Russia-raised Ramazan Alimatov (4-3-1, 1 KOs) outsmarted aggressive but limited Tyva fighter Sayan Kertik ool (0-1-1) over eight rounds. Former kickboxer Kertik ool pressed the action at all times, but Alimatov mostly avoided danger with potent footwork and fast, accurate combinations.

Former amateur standout Maxim Babanin (3-0, 3 KOs), a short but powerful heavyweight, stopped no-hoper Evgueny Kirichenko (0-2-1) at 52 seconds of the second round. Babanin rocked Kirichenko badly at the end of the first, dropped him down hard with a left hook soon after the start of the second round and got the job done immediately after. Babanin, 33, is known for his amateur wins over Tyson Fury, Joe Joyce, Frazer Clarke, Magomedrasul Medjidov and some other sound names.

Kyrgyz light welterweight southpaw Erzhan Turgumbekov (9-2-1, 2 KOs) got back in the win column after two consecutive losses (including one - via stoppage - against 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Albert Batyrgaziev) by outpointing Uzbek import Khasanboy Mirzahamrayev (1-2) over six rounds in a rough fight. The decision was unanimous.

Former professional ice hockey player Demid Luchnikov - no relation to the famous Russian cutman of the same surname - got his first career stoppage, when he rocked badly and then stopped Vladislav Freze (4-5-1) at the ropes after just sixteen seconds of the third round. Luchnikov, who - not surprisingly - was known as an enforcer while playing in Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia, is now 2-0, 1 KO. Freze was stopped for the third straight time.

Tajikistan-born featherweight Bahodur Yakubov, a younger brother of the world-rated super featherweight Mukhammadkhuja Yakubov, stopped Armenian fighter Suren Khachatryan (0-2) at 2:14 of the first. Bahodur displayed certain problems with his defense but also his aggressiveness and power in hurting the Armenian fighter badly with his body punches, forcing Khachatryan to turn his back on Yakubov.

In the opener, 19-year old welterweight Ruslan Selimyan (now 1-0) outpoined Dmitry Tuktarov (0-2) over four rounds with a majority decision. That was Selimyan's pro debut.