Three veterans prove their point
by Ron Jackson 29 January 2012, 09:38
Veterans Jürgen Brähmer, Cory Spinks and Ruslan Chagaev proved a few points with good victories at the weekend.
The former champions may have lost their titles, but they showed they still have the skills and class to beat creditable opponents.
Their notable victories improved their still impressive records and helped them retain their marketability.
Brähmer stopped José Maria Guerrero in the fourth round of his come-back fight in Germany on Saturday night.
The former WBO light-heavyweight champion, who had been out of action for 21 months, showed no ring rust as he knocked Guerrero down in the second round of their fight in Hamburg.
The referee stopped the bout 2 minutes 27 seconds into the fourth round when Guerrero was bleeding from a bad cut.
Brähmer improved his professional record to 37-2, including 30 knockouts. Guerrero’s record dropped to 29-3-1; 11.
On the undercard of the high-class tournament at the Grand Elysée, former WBA heavyweight champion Chagaev improved to 28-2-1; 17 when he beat Kertson Manswell (22-4; 17) on points over eight rounds.
Another former WBA champion, cruiserweight Firat Arslan, stopped Orlando Antonio Farias after 2 minutes 38 seconds of the second round to take his record to 32-5-1; 21. Farias dropped to 23-11; 12.
Heavyweight Denis Boytsov (30-0; 25) knocked out Darnell Wilson (24-14-3; 20) in the fourth round.
Olympic Games gold medallist Rakhim Chakhkiev beat Alexander Kotlobay on points over ten rounds in a fight for the WBC Baltic cruiserweight title. The scores were 100-89 on two cards and 99-89 on the third.
Chakhkiev improved to 12-0; 9 and Kotlobay dropped to 21-3-1; 15.
Vitali Tajbert, a former WBC super-featherweight champion, improved to 23-2; 6 when he outpointed Jose Luis Graterol (14-11-4; 5) over eight rounds.
OTHER WEEKEND RESULTS
Cruiserweight BJ Flores improved his record to 27-1-1; 16 when he stopped 40-year-old former welterweight title challenger Hugo Pineda (39-6-1; 28) in the sixth round of a tournament in Springfield, Missouri.
Cory Spinks, a former WBC and IBF welterweight and IBF light-middleweight champion, also made a statement when he defeated Sechew Powell over 12 rounds in an IBF light-middleweight title eliminator.
Spinks, winning by two scores of 115-113 and one of 116-112, improved his record to 38-6; 11. Powell dropped to 26-4; 15.
Verona, New York: Tony Grano knocked out Brian Minto in the third round of an NABF heavyweight title eliminator.
Grano’s record now stands at 19-2-1; 15 and Minto’s at 35-4; 22. Minto was down twice in the third round before the fight was stopped 64 seconds into the round.
In another heavyweight bout, Eric Fields (20-1; 15) outpointed Derrick Brown (13-7-3; 11) over eight rounds.
Washington: Junior welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov improved to 21-1; 14 when he knocked out David Torres (21-3-2; 13) in the sixth round.
Lightweight Ji-Hoon Kim (23-7; 18) beat Yakubu Amidu (17-3-1; 15) on points over ten rounds. The scores were 96-94, 98-92 and 97-93.
Hamilton, New Jersey: Cruiserweight Omar Sheika improved to 31-11; 21 when he won on points over ten rounds against Charles Hayward (7-4; 3). The scores were 95-95, 96-94 and 97-93.
Cebu, Philippines: Flyweight Milan Melindo, ranked No 1 by the WBO, retained the organisation’s intercontinental title when he stopped Mexican Juan Esquer in the seventh round.
Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan: Zhanat Zhakiyanov knocked out Noppadol Khongchana of Thailand in the first round to win the WBC Asian bantamweight title.
Puerto Colombia: Junior welterweight Breidis Presscott improved to 25-4; 20 when he stopped his Colombian countryman Joel Cassiani in the third round.
Tokyo: Takuya Kogawa (18-2; 10) won the vacant Japanese flyweight title when he beat Shigetaka Ikehara (22-3-2; 18) on points over 12 rounds. The scores were 96-94 and 96-95 on the other two cards.
Giza, Egypt: Light-heavyweight Hany Atiyo (12-0; 8) beat his Egyptian countryman Mazur Ali on points over 12 rounds.