Ekaterinburg – Rising Russian middleweight Vadim Tukov, 29, destroyed South African and African Boxing Union champion John Bopape (14-9, 13 KOs) in four one-sided rounds.
After a cautious opener, Tukov, 29, got to work in the second and immediately enjoyed major success. He delivered a right to the jaw, followed by a huge left hook, which had the South African slugger down on the canvas in face-first fashion. Amazingly, John got up and resumed fighting but was soon dropped again – this time by a single left bomb of Tukov.
In round three, the Russian took a pause allowing Bopape, 32, to have some mild success, although the African hadn’t landed anything of note. Tukov got busier in the fourth and soon landed a huge body-breaking left hook to the liver section, which had Bopape down on his knees and out at 0:48 of the round. Tukov is now 12-0, 5 KOs.
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Undefeated heavyweight Evgeny Romanov (19-0, 12 KOs) was forced to work in the ring against aging but still formidable 2004 Olympian Wilmer Vasquez (12-2-2, 8 KOs). The Russian scored a unanimous decision over ten rounds in the fight that BoxingScene scored 98-92 for Romanov.
Vazquez, who represented Venezuela in the Athens Olympics, resumed his career in 2019 after eight and a half years off the ring. His recent results were mixed, but at 42 he has never been stopped and had a solid weight advantage over small heavyweight (or “bridgerweight”) Romanov, 38.
The opening rounds were mostly even. Vazquez rocked Romanov with an overhand right to the whiskers in round one. Romanov, his knees buckled, weathered an unpleasant moment and came back strong with some powerful series in the second. The Venezuelan was better a bit in the third. After that, Romanov seized control of the fight, although the much heavier Vazquez remained dangerous with solid left hooks and formidable uppercuts. However, his stamina decreased, and he became more and more lethargic with each passing round. Romanov wasn’t overly active either, relying mostly on general pressure and rare offensive outbursts. Yet he did more than Vazquez, and he was more consistent and fresher by the end, while Vazquez was barely moving with his hands down.
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Uzbek super middleweight slugger Odiljon Aslonov (5-0-1, 2 KOs) scored a wide unanimous decision over Congolese Erick Katompa (9-3-1, 3 KOs) in the card’s opener.
Aslonov used his physique to stalk his more gracile opponent around the ring, while Katompa tried to counter Aslonov on his way in. The Congolese was mostly ineffective doing so, while Aslonov had some very imposing series. Katompa was hit at will and neared a stoppage loss in rounds two and four, and was almost stopped in the closing rounds. The Congolese survived the onslaught but lost every stanza of the scheduled eight. No scores were announced but BoxingScene had it 80-71 – for the Uzbek.