Well traveled Russian spoiler Leva Kirakosyan pulled off yet another upset on Saturday night by stopping hometown hero Antonio Joao Bento in the third round and annexing the European Super Featherweight title, recently given up by Alex Arthur, as a result.
Kirakosyan came into the bout riding a ten bout win streak and had previously upset such European level stalwarts as Carl Johanneson and Guiseppe Lauri while giving Juan Urango and Michael Gomez all they could handle.
Bento had already contended for the European title, losing a bid to unseat Boris Sinitsin three years ago, and recently had secured several regional titles.
Aware of Kirakosyan's considerable punching ability, Bento set out to keep the 33 year old Russian at arm's length and was doing relatively well for the first two sessions.
The third round was a different story however as Kirakosyan delivered a full bore right hand that dropped Bento hard to the canvas.
The Portuguese fighter made it to his feet and beat the count of referee Luigi Muratore but Kirakosyan smelled blood and Bento was unable to adequately defend against the overwhelming follow up assault.
With the victory, Leva Kirakosyan, 25-4 (16), caps off a mercurial career by assuming the European 130 lb title.
Carl Johanneson is looking for revenge on July 13 when he steps into the ring with Leva Kirakosyan, who inflicted Johanneson's only loss in a British ring.
Johanneson first stepped >
Leva Kirakosyan, the Russian born fighter whose last fight was a losing effort in a WBU super featherweight title fight against Manchester's Michael Gomez, returned to the UK in style >
Three years ago in London, heavy punching Armenian super featherweight Leva Kirakosyan stopped Carl Johanneson in the very first frame of a scheduled ten round bout. Last night on a >
In a major Continental upset, Belorussian super feather Sergey Gulyakevich outpointed the heavy handed reigning European Champion Leva Kirakosyan over twelve rounds at Datch Forum in Milan, Italy last night.
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Carl Johanneson puts everything on the line this Friday when he challenges European super featherweight ruler Leva Kirakosyan on a Frank Maloney promotion at the Metrodome in Barnsley, England.
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German daily paper "die Welt" writes that a Wladimir Klitschko vs. Sultan Ibragimov IBF/WBO unification bout is in the works for February 23 in New York.
European junior lightweight >
Promoter Frank Maloney stages a humdinger of a British title as current British super feather-weight champion Carl Johanneson takes on former champ Michael Gomez at the Doncaster Dome on October >
By Per Ake Persson
It´s official I: IBF middle champ Arthur Abraham defends the title December 8 in Basle. Opponent will be Brit Wayne Elcock, who scored a big >
Nothing has been easy in the career of British super featherweight champion Carl Johanneson, who first joined the professional ranks just over seven years ago in the small American town >
