The coming Thursday will mark the next return of professional boxing to Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic and one of the hotbeds of martial arts in Russia. Staged by Akhmat Promotion Company at the Uvais Akhtaev Sports Palace is a huge fight card, which will see the best of local boxing against top intrinsic and international opposition, which includes a former world champion among others.

Headlining the show is WBO #8 super middleweight Aslambek Idigov (16-0, 7 KOs), 23. Having started his pro career at a tender age of 17 and having competed mostly in Ukraine, he has been campaigning in Russian for the last three years. Idigov will face Slovakian opponent Robert Racz (21-1, 19 KOs) for both WBO and IBF European titles, both belonging to the Chechen fighter. Racz’s record looks solid but it will be his debut outside of Hungary/Slovakia/Czech Republic, where he has been fighting since the onset of his career.

In a co-featured bout of the evening, WBO #4 / IBF #6 / WBA #10 light heavyweight Umar Salamov (24-1, 18 KOs), still 25, will continue his redeem against 30-year old Ghanaian Emanuel Danso (31-4, 26 KOs), a strong and tough but fragile puncher. Salamov has been 5-0, 4 KOs, since his upset loss to Australian Olympian Damien Hooper in 2017.

Young 20-year old flyweight Mehdi Abdurashedov (6-0, 3 KOs) will look to defend his WBC International title against a strong rival in South African veteran Jackson Chauke (18-1-1, 14 KOs), 34, who has been recently on fire, having won the national title and defending it once. Chauke is for the first time fighting out of his native country.

6’5’’ heavyweight Apti Davtaev (17-0-1, 16 KOs) is expected to continue his recent streak of stoppage wins (the latest victim was 32-4-1 Brazilian Pedro Otas) against Daniel “The Mountain” Martz (18-7-1, 15 KOs), who was stopped in all but one of his losses. The fight is scheduled for ten.

Finally, ex-WBS stalwart and 2016 Russian Olympian Adlan Abdurashidov (2-0, 2 KOs) will look to make a quantum leap up in class against a tough one. Abdurashidov, who debuted in 2018 will face former WBA lightweight champion and a multi-time title challenger Paulus Moses (40-5, 25 KOs). Moses, 41, have fought mostly in his native Namibia in recent years but has a number of wins there, including those over former champions Cassius Baloyi and Mzonke Fana among others. He is 0-2 in 2018 (losses to Ray Beltran and Emmanuel Tagoe) and hasn’t fought in 2019 but he also was stopped just once – against a born puncher in Miguel Acosta.

Six more eight-round bouts will round-up the card:

1. Apti Ustarkhanov (16-3-3, 4 KOs) vs. Lucas Ndafoluma (16-2, 7 KOs, Namibia) – super middleweights

2. Rizvan Elikhanov (8-0, 8 KOs) vs. Artem Karpets (21-12, 6 KOs, Ukraine) – middleweights

3. Ramzan Baysarov (8-1, 4 KOs) vs. Solomon Bogere (14-4-2, 11 KOs, Uganda) – light middleweights

4. Idris Shakhmanov (1-0) vs. Konstantin Piternov (21-22, 10 KOs, Russia) – light heavyweights

5. Said Khussein Musalipov (1-0) vs. TBA – welterweights

6. Sadam Elbiev (2-0, 1 KO) vs. Esteban Hillman Tababary (45-21-2, 40 KOs, Bolivia) – light heavyweights

The show will be aired live by Boets TV channel.