Middleweight Shamil Khataev preserved his undefeated record and improved it to 11-0, 3 KOs, following a solid unanimous decision over eight rounds against his most formidable opponent to this date, Emiliano Exequiel Pucheta of Argentina.
As always, Pucheta, who was supported at ringside by the famed two-division champion Marcos Rene Maidana, started very aggressively. Unlike ex-world-rated Magomed Madiev who fell into the same trap past this February (and ended his fight with Pucheta in a draw), Khataev boxed smarter by rolling with Pucheta’s punches and countering him with sudden left hooks and right uppercuts.
Pucheta did fairly well in the first couple of rounds but then started to eat more and more leather as the bout progressed. When he was in danger (but not only) Pucheta managed to spit out his mouthpiece, but referee Sergey Litunov didn’t deduct any points from the Argentinean. Pucheta had his moments of success but Khataev was ultimately more successful throughout the fight. As rounds went by, he also started to press the action himself and did land a series of solid blows.
In the end, all three judges had it in favor of the Chechen fighter: 79-73, 79-73, and 78-74. Pucheta drops down to 18-7-1, 8 KOs.
In a co-featured six-round exhibition between two mixed martial artists-turned-boxers, Iskander Ziyaev out-pointed his notorious opponent Rasul Mirzaev over six rounds with scores: 60-54, 60-55, 59-55.
Next for Ziyaev can be Tajik welterweight Anis Chilaev (8-0, 3 KOs), who scored a decision over Armenian Karen Margaryan (4-3-2, 1 KO) on the very same card.
Pravda Boxing promoted the event, which took place in Moscow.