Inkin/Balszay, Barashian/Erdei Results

By Simon Hirst: In a fight for the WBO super middleweight title, unbeaten Russian champion Denis Inkin was dethroned by Hungarian challenger Karoly Balszay in a unanimous decision in what could be seen as a shock result in the super middleweight division.

Inkin, who was making his first defence of his WBO title, stood toe to toe in an entertaining fight, and looked in the lead in the first six rounds by putting pressure on Balszay. However, Inkin allowed Balszay to fight his way back into contention and Balszay put him under pressure in the last few rounds with precise counter-punching that rocked Inkin to nick the fight 115–113, 116–112, 116-112.

Newly crowned champion Balszay said after the fight “I thought he was very tough guy, but our preparation was perfect.” It remains to be seen whether Inkin will have to work his way back up or whether he will get a rematch.

WBO light heavyweight champion Zsolt Erdei was scheduled to be defending his title against Yuri Barashian, however the fight took place without the title on the line as Barashian failed to make the 175 pounds limit. He came in two pounds over and after working for two hours, could not lose the extra two pounds and therefore had to forfeit his chance of winning the title.

Barashian had some success with some hard shots, but simply could not match the speed of Erdei, who controlled the fight using this. Barashian was deducted a point for a low blow in round 9, but little did it matter as the scorecards read 116-111, 116-111 and 117-110 in favour of the unbeaten champion.

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