2020 Tokyo Olympics featherweight gold medalist Albert Batyrgaziev tested the waters at the lightweight limit and was successful in overpowering savvy Azerbaijani import Gaybatulla Gadzhialiev over ten tense but ALBA-dominated rounds with a unanimous decision.
The fight was the main event of the night, promoted at the famed Krilya Sovetov arena in Moscow, Russia, by Sergey Strelkov of the Dynamo Boxing Promotions.
Jumping up two weight classes Batyrgaziev – one of Russia’s finest two-way fighters – was matched with tough and fit former Olympian (2012). Gadzhialiev, 30, immediately started moving but the Russian stalked him and landed several clean shots to get the first.
The Azerbaijani evened the matter in the second with fast, sneaky left hands against a natural southpaw in ALBA, yet the latter was almost unscathed. Batyrgaziev, 23, got back to basics to win the following two rounds. He mixed various offensive technique and was fast with his guard.
Gadzhialiev has always been composed under heavy fire but he produced just scarce offense. He was game but both outsmarted and outfired by the steadily aggressive Russian. The Azerbaijani relied too much on his big single shots but from the mid-point they were effectively neglected by Batyrgaziev. The Russian closed the show with a solid surge but was unable to stop his opponent.
At the end, all three judges had it almost identical to each other: 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91 – for Batyrgaziev, who acquired Eurasin Boxing Parliament’s lightweight title. Going the distance for the first time in his young career, he is now 6-0, 5 KOs. Gadzhialiev drops down to 8-3-1, 3 KOs. The fight was a nice learning experience for the Olympic champion.
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In a heated clash between two stylistically different opponents, refined technician Pavel Sosulin (7-0, 2 KOs) outsmarted and outboxed crude and rugged hard-hitter Igor Ivanchenko (5-1, 3 KOs) over eight rounds.
Sosulin mixed combinations with smart footwork to avoid a majority of Igor’s aggressive counterstrikes. Short right hands, hard left jabs and uppercuts were the winner’s primary weapons. Ivanchenko was forced to stay mostly behind a shell defense. He exploded with fierce counter-offensive at times but was unable to land cleanly.
Sosulin closed the fight with a huge surge to punctuate his wide decision victory: 80-73, 79-73 and 79-73. The Angarsk-born fighter is a new Russian light middleweight champion.
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