Ekaterinburg, Russia - 2016 Olympic gold medalist Evgeny Tishchenko (12-1, 7 KOs) was lucky to get on the right side of a confusing split decision against hard-raging Belgian cruiserweight Yves Ngabu (21-2, 15 KOs) in a grueling hard fight.

Lanky southpaw Tishchenko, 31, utilized his jab and upper body movement to frustrate Ngabu in the first. Ngabu, 34, was unable to get too close to WBA #14 Tishchenko, as he was peppered with jabs at the mid range, and then Tishchenko clinched whenever Ngabu was able to get to close quarters. Smart defense and subtle maneuvers allowed Tishchenko to smother Ngabu's pressure and to take several opening rounds. Yet, they were close, and Ngabu's constant pressure was an unchanging and worrisome factor for the Russian.

Ngabu also managed to redden and then cut Tishchenko minorly in several places. From round six, unrelenting pressure of Ngabu started to earn him success, as he began to break through Tishchenko's guard and land cleaner. One of the Belgian's uppercuts hurt the Russian in the seventh, and Ngabu suddenly began overpowering the Russian. Tishchenko clinched a lot in rounds seven and eight but it didn't help him in each particular instance. The Russian tried to regain control but had too little fuel in his tank to accomplish this feat.

After ten rounds, two judges had it completely different: 98-92 - for Tishchenko and 99-91 - for Ngabu, confusing the audience and experts, while the third had it closer to what might be the correct assessment of this even fight: 96-94 - for Evgueny Tishchenko.

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In a fiery encounter, WBA #12 Russia-based Armenian Zhora Hamazaryan scored two knockdowns over WBA #8 and IBF #10 rated Nicaraguan super featherweight Francisco Fonseca to get a very hard-fought decision over ten rounds.

Hamazaryan, 26, had revived his career with the decision win over former three-division world champion Jorge Linares, while Fonseca was riding a series of six consecutive stoppage wins culminating in his second-round knockout of 26-3 Australian Billel Dib in December 2022.

Both fighters didn't hesitate to engage in fireworks in round one. Fonseca, 29, was slower than Hamazaryan but his pressure was constant, while the Russia-based Armenian worked in spurts. Fonseca's pressure looked solid but it was vaporized by a hard overhand right by the Armenian, which dropped Fonseca hard for a count of eight.

The Nicaraguan returned favors in round two, although Hamazaryan had his own chances, but then Zhora got back strong in the third with some successful blows both to the head and body of the Nicaraguan. Round four was mostly even, Fonseca slowly stalking Hamazaryan around the ring with mild success. The fifth, however, was vastly different. Early on, Hamazaryan rushed forward with solid punches. Fonseca obliged and threw his share of bombs. One of those forced a hole in his guard, and Hamazaryan capitalized, dropping his opponent with a damaging left to the liver. Fonseca was up at nine and was lucky to last till the bell.

It looked like Zhora lost more energy during the first half than Francisco, and the Nicaraguan slowly started to seize control of the fight. Hamazaryan's spurts became less frequent, while the Nicaraguan began landing clean shots. Rounds six and seven were see-saw, but in the eighth Fonseca looked considerably better. He fought through cuts on both sides of his face; both fighters covered in blood.

Francisco Fonseca immediately troubled Hamazaryan in the ninth with a head shot and then started hunting for the wounded fighter. Hamazaryan wobbled across the ring several times but despite eating tons of heavy blows remained upright. The Armenian lost his bravao and was in full-survival mode during the first two minutes of Fonseca's best round of the fight. He evened it up a bit during the last minute.

Both boxers fought through pain and fatigue in round ten. The Nicaraguan's wild attack failed, and Hamazaryan took the end of the fight. After ten rounds, two judges had it close: 95-93 and 96-92, while the third was off the mark with 99-89 - all for Hamazaryan, who is now 14-3-2, 9 KOs, and in title contention. A two-time title challenger from Nicaragua drops down to 31-4-2, with 25 KOs.