WBO light middleweight champion Zaurbek Baysangurov (26-1, 20 KOs) will make the first defense of his title on May 12 at the Terminal in Brovary, Ukraine. No official opponent has been named so far but rumors are widespread that Spaniard Ruben Varon (38-6, 17 KOs), who is ranked #11 by the WBO, will step into the ring against the Chechen native.

Baysangurov, 27, is regarded by many as a paper champion, and he certainly has something to prove to the skeptics. He acquired the vacant WBO interim title by knocking out totally irrelevant Brazilian Mike Miranda with what seemed to be a light punch in the very first round. Zaurbek, a hard hitter with good boxing skills, who has wins over Richard Gutierrez and Marko Antonio Rubio on his resume, as well as an upset TKO loss to the reigning IBF champion Cornelius Bundrage, was elevated to a full champion status, after then-champion Sergey Dzinziruk was stripped of his regalia. Baysangurov was then thought to defend against possibly the toughest opponent in his career in Lukas Konecny in March but was forced to withdraw from the bout after a back injury during the training camp.

Meanwhile, Konecny put up a one-sided beating and then stopped Frenchman Salim Larbi the last week to acquire a vacant WBO Interim title in his turn. Now the winner of the WBO defense in Brovary will be forced to defend his title against the Czech in the shortest time possible.

Ruben Varon is 32. He is a well-known continental contender, who ironically dealt Konecny the first loss of his career in a questionable fashion in 2004. Varon challenged Felix Sturm for the WBO middleweight belt in 2003 and lost to the German via a lopsided unanimous decision. In his most recent big fight in 2010, Varon gave a stern test to then-EBU titleholder Matthew Macklin before losing a dubious decision.

The show is promoted by K2.

 

By Alexey Sukachev and Dmitry Mikhachuk

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=51843

In a clash for the vacant interim WBO jr middleweight title, former European champion and hometown favorite Lukas Konecny (48-3, 23 KOs) took advantage of his long awaited world title fight by scorng a seventh round KO over Salim Larbi (17-2-1, 4 KOs) on Thursday night at the Vodova Arena in Brno, Czech Republic. Konecny pressured Larbi from the opening bell. In round three, both fighters stood toe-to-toe with Konecny getting the better of it, although he came out of it with cuts over the left eye and the bridge of the nose. That was pretty much Larbi’s last hurrah as the cuts spurred Konecny to up his aggression even more in rounds four and five. A right hand to the body in the seventh finally put Larbi on the deck and as referee Andre Van Grootenbruel reached the count of ten.

Long time mandatory challenger Konecny was originally slated to face WBO jr middleweight champion Zaurbek Baysangurov last month in Kiev, Ukraine, but Baysangurov suffered a back injury in training shortly before the fight. Last year Konecny had a title shot against then-WBO champion Serhiy Dzinziruk canceled an injury in training shortly before the fight.

 

By Karl Freitag
Photos: Eroll Popova

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/konecny-wins-wbo-interim-154lb-belt-112066

“I am very proud that I can bring another belt home to my son”, said the always exciting IBF #15 rated heavyweight Konstantin “Sandman” Airich after his come-from-behind ninth round TKO over WBO #6 rated Ondrej Pala on Friday night in Tekirdag, Turkey. “I thank everybody who kept on believing in me especially in the hard times I went through – foremost, of course, my family and my coach Hans-Jürgen Witte.” With the win, the German heavyweight added the WBO European championship to his IBF Intercontinental title and will surely move up in the world ratings.

“I am very happy for Konstantin,” says promoter Ahmet Oner. “He is a hard worker who really earned himself this win. After a spectacular performance like this he has bigger paydays coming up. It’s sad for Ondrej Pala that he couldn’t bring home the victory when he was leading on the scorecards but he’s only 27 years old. He will learn from this loss and come back stronger than ever.”

 

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/airich-speaks-after-big-win-109929

In an upset, 33-year-old German veteran Konstantin Airich sensationally stopped fight favorite Ondrej Pala (30-3, 21 KOs) of the Czech Republic to add Pala’s WBO European heavyweight title to his already owned IBF I/C belt. IBF #15 Airich was losing the fight but he found some inner resources not only to defeat the uncharacteristically slow Pala, but also to resurrect his stagnating career.

WBO #6 Czech, who hasn’t lost for well over five years since his injury-insisted TKO loss to Denis Boytsov, was in firm control of the fight in the opening rounds. Pala was slow and mostly inactive but so was Airich, while Pala’s punches were much sharper and landed flashier on the Kazakh expatriate’s chin. Airich was taking the punch well but he was steadily given an unnecessary diet of leather, which didn’t look good for him. However, he stayed solidly on his feet, and at the end of the third the Czech’s bell was rung, when he was shaken by Airich’s big right hand. The next couple of rounds were once again for Pala, 27, whose strong jab and big right hands were the difference.

It has all changed in the sixth, when Airich landed a huge combination in the center of the ring to wobble Pala badly. The Czech was on the verge of going down but wisely dropped his mouthpiece. Referee Yuri Koptsev did a terrible job of bringing the fighters together and gave the Czech every chance to survive, which he surely did.

Ondrej looked rather good in the seventh but Airich’s confidence was still intact and he began beating Pala to the punch in the eighth. Round nine turned out to be a personal holocaust for the Czech. First, he was pinned to the ropes and ate a number of clean punches, which were enough to stop the contest. However, referee Koptsev gave Pala every chance to survive and took him back to his corner to insert his mouthpiece once again. The Czech was deducted a point, but it wasn’t necessary. Airich immediately went in for the kill and punched an almost senseless Pala until Koptsev stepped in at 1:10 to stop the carnage.

A huge win for Konstantin Airich, who has slowly put his career back on track. Pala is young enough to come back as a serious European contender but he definitely needs to improve his defense. Airich also avenged his majority decision loss to Pala, which took place three years ago.

By Alexey Sukachev

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=50444