Boxing News Boxing News
Last night at Tachi Palace Casino in Lemoore, CA, light heavyweight Beibut Shumenov retained his WBA title for the first time with a unanimous decision victory over little known opponent Viacheslav Uzelkov.
Despite the undefeated record coming into the bout, Uzelkov had never faced world class competition, however the 31 year old Ukrainian was the WBA Intercontinental strapholder, which could explain how he managed to secure a title shot.
Uzelkov did managed to shock the champion, sending Shumenov to the floor with a counter left hook in the first but couldn’t better his work.
Shumenov regained his composure and went to work, dropping the challenger in the third frame but could not finish off Uzelkov.
Uzelkov went defensive for the rest of the bout, waiting for the champion to make a mistake as in the first session but that moment simply never came as the challenger wasn’t active enough to win any additional rounds.
After twelve rounds Shumenov was declared the winner via marks of 118-108, 118-108 and 117-109, improving to 10-1 (6) and keeping the WBA title while Uzelkov loses his first pro bout, going to 22-1 (14).
26 year old Shumenov is continuing to learn on the job but must improve significantly if he is to succeed against genuine world class opposition.
The undercard saw light heavy Gayrat Ahmedov, 15-0-1 (10), crush Dallas Vargas, 22-5 (16), who has now lost three of his last four contests, in one round.
Welter Ravshan Hudaynazarov, 13-0 (11), convinced Mexican vet Pavel Miranda, 16-6-1 (8), who has gone 0-4-1 in his last five appearances, not to come out for the sixth frame while super bantam Rico Ramos, 17-0 (9), unanimously decisioned Cuauhtemoc Vargas, 15-4-1 (10), who has now lost three straight, on points over eight.
