Jakhongir Zokirov TKO2 Brandon Colantonio... One of the heavyweight divison’s bright young prospects added to his shine as Uzbekistan’s Jakhongir Zokirov scored a first-round finish over Canada’s Brandon Colantonio to advance to 3-0. The 23 year-old “Jak Kong” hurt Colantonio to the body early. After the Canadian rose to his feet, Zokirov went back to the well, forcing Colantonio to a knee. However, Zokirov connected with a punch when Colantonio was on the canvas and was promptly deducted a point. It all felt academic, however, as Zokirov put some heavy finishing touches on the bout, leading to Colantonio’s corner stopping the fight before the start of the second round.
Alexander Castro W10 Radzhab Butaev... Experienced middleweights Alexander Castro and Radzhab Butaev went back and forth for ten rounds with Castro earning the bounce-back win on two of three scorecards. The Colombian Castro came out like he was smelling blood in the seventh round, pouncing on Butaev with a big flurry of punches although it did not deter Butaev [a former PED cheat] in any capacity. Even though Castro accepted the fight in late-October, he appeared the fresher fighter in the final quarter of the bout as the frequent work to Butaev’s body seemed to pay dividens in the final handful of rounds. In the end, Castro defeated Butaev by majority decision via scores of 96-94, 97-93 and 95-95.
ADDITIONAL RESULTS
Lightweights Ivan Ortiz and Dariial Kuchmenov went to battle over eight rounds with Kuchmenov earning the split decision nod. Official scores were 77-74 and 76-75 for Kuchmenov, with one tally of 76-75 for Ortiz. Kuchmenov opened the fight on the front foot, commanding the distance and range early with his jap and pressure. Two minutes into the opening frame, Kuchmenov dropped Ortiz for the first time in his career with a slick counter hook as Ortiz burst into range. Kuchmenov continued to stifle him with tight, technical shots that landed inside of Ortiz’s looped offerings. Ortiz started to settle into the fight midway through the third round, landing with more regularity and standing his ground more. That trend continued into the fourth, when Ortiz found some real success, including a cracking right hand in the waning moments of the round. Just when the momentum looked headed Ortiz’s direction, Kuchmenov started tagging Ortiz to the body a bit more, allowing the Russian to get back on the gas and dictating the terms of engagement. The final six minutes of the fight were a bit more back-and-forth, but Kuchmenov did enough to stay ahead of the pace and secure the win.
The action in Riyadh got started with a bang as Tulio Boymatov floored Moro Kanla 89 seconds into the fight. The light heavyweights went after each other from the opening bell, throwing heavy combinations early and often. Boymatov touched the canvas first although the referee called it a slip. Moments later, he connected with an overhand right to put Kanla down for the first time. The finishing shot would come not many seconds later when he touched Kanla with a flush left hook that rendered Kanla unable to continue.
Riyahd’s Rayan Awaji had a picture-perfect debut as he finished Sudais Lubega in the third round. Awaji overwhelmed Lubega on a few occasions although he was not able to drop Lubega before the Ugandan tied him up to halt the onslaught. At the end of the opening round, Lubega even took to literally running from Awaji to make it to the bell. The second round was one-way traffic in favor of the hometown fighter. Lubega seemed content to tie Awaji any chance he got, but Awaji stayed within himself and scored a pair of knockdowns. However, Lubega made it to the second bell, allowing Awaji to put the finishing touches on in the third. Awaji eventually scored the finish late in the third round as Lubega was resigned to tying up, leading the referee to call the bout.
Young featherweights clashed as Riyadh’s Abdulaziz Alotaibi scored a win in his professional debut over Uganda’s Ezra Ssali. All three scorecards had Alotaibi, age 24, winning by 40-35. Alotaibi got to work quickly and scored a knockdown midway through the opening frame with a thudding right hand to the body that forced Ssali to take a knee.
