By Alexey Sukachev

Maxim Vlasov might be seen in the ring in his native city of Samara the next time. According to Zyaki Yunisov of the YUKA Promotions, the WBA #6 and WBO #11 ranked cruiserweight can be back to the ring in May.

“We are planning Max’s next bout to take place in May in his native Samara”, was quoted Yunisov. “Negotiations are under way, we are making almost one session a day, so it’s presently early enough to tell who the opponent will be. I hope the contract will be signed pretty soon. We are looking to an entertaining, world-class boxing affair”.

World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight quarterfinalist Vlasov (42-3, 25 KOs) was last seen in the ring in November, losing on a unanimous decision to former WBO 200lb champion Krzysztof Glowacki.

Former IBF super flyweight champion (and Russia’s first ever champion to be crowned on a domestic soil) Dmitry Kirillov sees WBA light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol as a favorite in a possible all-Russian light heavyweight unification against WBO titlist Sergey Kovalev.

“It’s logical that Bivol’s next fight should be against Kovalev”, said Kirillov to RIA Novosti media agency. “Bivol’s goal is not to let himself stalled, to unify the titles. He is ready to face anyone, whilst the WBO title belongs now to Kovalev. Bivol is ready. There’s nothing that can make it [Kovalev vs. Bivol] undesirable for him. For me, Dmitry is a favorite. For whoever Kovalev is the favorite should be decided by the bookmakers”.

“Look at Kovalev vs. Alvarez. The Colombian stood still against Kovalev, trying to smother Sergey’s punches, but ate too much anyway because he wasn’t moving too much. It won’t work versus Dmitry because he will be moving in different directions, shooting while on the move. Alvarez is physically stronger but he rarely exploded. Bivol can be explosive all the time and punch dynamically. That is what makes him superior”.

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

Former notable amateur heavyweight Zhan Kosobutskiy, 30, continued his run under a majority of radars in Minsk, Belarus. On January 29, the Kazakh native improved his record to 9-0, with 8 KOs, after the first-round annihilation of Bosnian import Srdjan Govedarica (6-7, 5 KOs). Govedarica was down thrice before the stoppage at 2:34.

Belarussian middleweight Mikhail Veselov came back to the winning column after his fight versus Alisher Khabubullaev (5-2, 2 KOs) was stopped on cuts on round two. Veselov is now 9-0-1, 5 KOs.

In another semi-important contest, Evgueny Romashkevich moved to 7-0, 3 KOs, following a decision over Ukrainian Igor Faniyan (16-19-3, 8 KOs). The sole score was 60-54.

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

On February 2, Alexander Popov of the Patriot Boxing Promotions staged a tiny event at Vityaz in Anapa, Russia. Headlining the show was a bout for a vacant Russian lightweight title between Elnur Samedov and Viskhan Murzabekov.

Murzabekov started well, dropping Samedov with a hard right hand at the end of the first. The latter returned favours in round three, flooring Viskhan on a hard counter right of his own. Both combatants fought it to the end, and Samedov emerged as a winner on a hard-fought split decision. Scores were: 95-93 – for Murzabekov, and 96-92 and 96-94 – for Samedov.

In a battle of two fighters, who experienced lengthy breaks in their careers, light middleweight Alexey Evchenko (18-11-1, 8 KOs) broke down fellow veteran Karen Tevosyan (20-6-3, 11 KOs) in four rounds. Evchenko dropped Tevosyan down with an overhand right in round one, then dropped him hard with a left hook to the liver section in the fourth round. Tevosyanbarely survived till the bell, and was retired right after it.

Light middleweight Islam Edisultanov (7-0, 5 KOs), who fights rarely yet successfully halted veteran Pavel Mamontov (12-8-2, 1 KO) in five rounds. Mamontov was beaten to the punch for a duration of five rounds until a fight was stopped by his corner.

Other results:

Fedor Gureev (2-0, 1 KO) UD 6 Lambert Fogoum (2-1-1, 1 KO). Scores: 60-54, 60-54, 59-55

Ilya Kvasnikov (1-0-1, 1 KO) D 6 Yassin Habachi (5-12-5, 3 KOs). Scores: 58-56, 57-57, 57-57