 Avtandil Khurtsidze vs Javier Alberto Mamani |
A hot middleweight slugger Khurtsidze used a lot of body movements and fought from the inside despite his opponent’s advantage in height and reach. A Georgian who got the moniker «Crack-burglar» among his boxers associates for his specific style – Avtandil usually immediately breaks into defensive walls of his rivals – this time started rather slowly wisely expecting that the fight with such an experienced opponent might go the full distance. Counterpunching Javier Alberto Mamani tried to box from the outside with the help of his long jab and occasional right crosses. Both fighters threw a lot of punches especially in the final two rounds. However, Avtandil boldly won the large majority of rounds and two out of three judges considered Khurtsidze to be the winner: 118-111, 115-115, and 118-110 thus making him a new WBA Inter-Continental middleweight champ. Khurtsidze raised his record to 16-1-2 with 11 KOs while Mamani dropped to 34-7-1, with 19 KOs.
In co-feature undefeated cruiserweight Vitaly Rusal faced a late sub Laszlo Hubert from Hungary. The fighters clashed for the vacant IBO Inter-Continental cruiserweight title.
Unbeaten young hopeful Rusal boxed mainly from the outside demonstrating good speed and skill. A Hungarian stayed mainly defensive from time to time trying to land a left haymaker which he succeeded to do several times in round 4. However, Rusal methodically continued to shell his opponent with multiple combinations. It was a series of body punches that forced Hubert twice to take a knee in round six. In the seventh Hungarian went to canvass after a brutal left hook to the liver and the bout was waved off by the referee. This TKO win brought Vitaly Rusal IBO Inter-Continental cruiserweight belt and he remained unbeaten with improved record of 21-0, with 15 KOs. Hubert dropped to 14-2, with 7 KOs.
UNDERCARD RESULTS
In the undercard welterweight Valery Brazhnik (18-0, 11 KOs) successfully returned to the ring after several months break. Brazhnik did not fight since last February due to serious hand injury which occurred in his last fight. Nevertheless, Brazhnik was in quite a good shape and his opponent David Tlashadze (3-7, 1 KO) had no chance for success. After just two rounds Tlashadze’s nose was bleeding profusely and in round three he practically stopped defending himself which prompted referee to stop the fight. Brazhnik won by TKO.
In another undercard bout heavyweight Vladimir Chanturia (12-0, 8 KOs), a bronze medalist of Sydney Olympic Games -2000, fought with a firm journeyman Paata Berikashvili (7-6, 5KOs). In round 6 Chanturia landed series of punches. Berikashvili managed to remain on his feet, however, looked hurt very much and soon referee waved the fight off since Berikashvili did not react to Chanturia’s barrages of punches.
«Tornado in the Ring» heroes make weight
