Boxing In Europe: Weekend Results

A good weekend of Continental boxing featured three European title fights and we kick off this report at Spodek, the largest indoor arena in Poland in the southern city of Katowice.

European Welterweight Champion Rafal “Braveheart” Jackiewicz, 33-8-1 (18), continued his amazing career transformation with a successful title defense against previously undefeated European Union, German and IBF Intercontinental titlist Jan Zaveck, 25-1 (14).

But it wasn’t easy as the confident Slovenian challenger came to win and Jackiewicz had his hands full before pulling out a hard-fought split decision victory after twelve difficult rounds.

Jackiewicz’s record stood at 12-7-1 (7) at the end of 2004 after having been thrown in with more experienced opponents such as Antonio Lauri, Ted Bami, Yuri Nuzhnenko, Michael Jennings and Jacek Bieleski but then the Minsk Mazowiecki born hard man went on a tear, going 19-1, losing only to excellent Italian boxer Giammario Grassellini by majority decision.

This earned Jackiewicz a shot at European Champ Jackson Osei Bonsu, a murderous puncher who was on the verge of a WBC title shot. Jackiewicz drew on his long experience to keep Bonsu off balance and expose holes in the Belgian’s defense to pull out a tough points decision.

But keeping the European title could prove harder than winning it as Jackiewicz’s defense against Zaveck proved.

Also on the bill, heavyweight prospect Andrzej Awarzyk, 13-0 (8), won the biggest fight of his career by outpointing veteran Tomasz Bonin, 40-3 (22), over ten rounds to add the Polish title to his WBC Youth belt.

Former WBO Light Middleweight title challenger Lukas Konecny, 38-3 (19), kept busy with an eight round pointes win over Hungarian veteran Janos Petrovics, 14-20 (7).

Also on Saturday, the European Featherweight belt was at stake at Sportspalace Drusba in Donetsk, Ukraine.

Reigning titlist Oleg Yefimovych, 15-1 (10), retained the crown for the first time with a first round TKO of Italy’s Luca Maggio, 7-4 (1), who had never been stopped before.

There were three EBU-EE title fights on the bill at Sportspalace, with Vladimir Kravets, 18-0 (11), defending the welterweight trophy against Andrei Stoliarchuk, 6-12-1 (0), in the fourth, Stas Kashtnov, 23-0 (13), winning the vacant super middle belt over Konstantin Makhankov, 12-18 (3), and Stanislav Merdov, 27-6 (21), stopping Yersin Jailauov, 19-6-1 (7), in the third to keep the featherweight bauble.

Local welter Vyacheslav Senchenko, 28-0 (20), retained the WBA Intercontinental title with a fourth round stoppage of Brazil’s Adonicio Francisco Reges, 11-3 (7).

Light welter veteran Andrei Kudriavtsev, 30-6 (12), won an eight rounder against French journeyman Frederic Bonifai, 34-34-4 (12).

Friday saw ex-world title challenger Khoren Gevor, 30-3 (16), win the vacant European Middleweight title against former owner Amin Asikainen, 25-2 (17), at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland, via seventh round stoppage.

Heavyweight Juho Haapoja, 7-2-1 (5), stopped Sami Elovaara, 19-4 (11), in the ninth to capture the vacant Finnish title and light welter prospect Dennis Shafikov, 17-0 (9), defeated former WBA Lightweight Champion Raul Horacio Balbi, 55-10-1 (38), of Argentina after an accidental headlash left Balbi with a severe gash in the sixth round.

At the Matrim Hotel in Magdeburg, Germany, Natascha Ragosina, 19-0 (11), retained her WIBF and WBA Female Super Middleweight titles in a rematch against Conjestina Achieng, 14-6-3 (7), by points after ten rounds.

Lightweight Ramona “Wild Dragon” Kuehne, 12-0 (3), retained her WIBA belt for the first time with a points verdict over Dahianna Santana, 14-5 (5).