By Keith Idec

Beibut Shumenov shed some rust against a reluctant opponent Saturday and regained a version of the WBA’s cruiserweight title.

Kazakhstan’s Shumenov stopped Hizni Altunkaya after nine one-sided rounds in Astana, Kazakhstan. Shumenov (18-2, 12 KOs) ended a two-year layoff against Germany’s Altunkaya (30-2, 17 KOs), who went down twice from body shots and declined to continue after the ninth round at Barys Arena.

Shumenov fought for the first time since he stopped Junior Wright in the 10th round of their May 2016 match in Las Vegas. The 34-year-old former WBA light heavyweight champion announced his retirement last June due to an eye injury.

His victory earned Shumenov the WBA world cruiserweight title, which was vacant before he faced Altunkaya. Shumenov held the WBA world cruiserweight title before he retired last year.

Russia’s Murat Gassiev is the WBA’s “super” cruiserweight champion.

Shumenov seemed as if he would score an early knockout because he dropped Altunkaya just 1:35 into their fight. He was in complete control throughout the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth rounds, when he mostly kept a careful Altunkaya on his back foot, but Shumenov couldn’t hurt Altunkaya again until early in the ninth round.

An aggressive Shumenov swarmed Altunkaya as soon as the ninth round started. Altunkaya went down to one knee just 14 seconds into the ninth after Shumenov connected with a right hand to the body.

Altunkaya reached his feet by the time referee Tony Weeks counted to five. He finished the ninth round, but decided following that three-minute period that he didn’t want to continue.

Shumenov sent Altunkaya to the canvas with 1:25 to go in the first round by landing a left hook to the body. Altunkaya answered Weeks’ count at seven and spent most of the remainder of the first round moving away from Shumenov.

Altunkaya held his right side as he walked back to his corner once the first round ended. His trainer applied ice to the area where Shumenov drilled him with that body shot between the first and second round.

Shumenov connected with occasional overhand rights during the ensuing seven rounds. Altunkaya covered up well, though, and was reluctant to engage his stronger opponent.

Before Shumenov stopped him, Altunkaya had lost only to former WBO cruiserweight champ Krzysztof Glowacki. Poland’s Glowacki (30-1, 19 KOs) beat Altunkaya by technical knockout after the fifth round in June 2017 in Gdansk, Poland.

Shumenov, meanwhile, hopes to make a run in the cruiserweight division now that his right eye has been repaired. He had surgery to correct a scratched cornea last year, which forced him to postpone a mandatory title defense against Cuba’s Yunier Dorticos and eventually caused his temporary retirement.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.