Braehmer Destroys Brancalion; Boytsov Stops Bidenko – Boxing Results

By Boxing News - 06/07/2009 - Comments

boystov4By Erik Schmidt: European Boxing Union (EBU) light heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer (33-2, 27 KOs) destroyed Italian Antonio Brancalion (32-7-2, 8 KOs) in the 1st round on Saturday night at the Koenig Pilsener Arena, Oberhausen, in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Braehmer, 30, knocked Brancalion down three times before referee Terry O’Connor stepped in and halted the bout at 1:23 after the 3rd knockdown in the round.

Braehmer, ranked #1 in the World Boxing Association, #5 in the WBC, #9 in the IBF and #10 in the WBO, knocked Brancalion down with right-left combination seconds into the fight. In fact, it was the first two punches that Braehmer threw in the fight in the opening seconds of the bout.

Brancalion staggered to his fee, looking badly hurt. Braehmer, a southpaw, immediately tore into Brancalion, knocking him backwards with a left hand and then hit Brancalion with a hard combination that caused Brancalion to step back and take a knee.

It was a good thing that he decided to take a knee at the time, because Braehmer was coming at him fast and would have dropped him with a big left hand had Brancalion tried to stand his ground and fight it out. After Brancalion got to his feet, Braehmer went right at him and landed a long right hand followed by a short left hook to the jaw that sent Brancalion downward towards the canvas.

While he was on his downward decent, Braehmer landed a parting left hand shot to the side of the head. As soon as Brancalion hit the canvas, referee Terry O’Connor stepped in and stopped the fight at 1:23 of the round.

This was a great win for Braehmer, who keeps himself in line for a title shot against WBA light heavyweight champion Hugo Hernan Garay. Braehmer previously was easily beaten by Garay in November 2008, losing a lopsided 12 round decision. As bad as Braehmer was beaten in that fight, it’s hard to imagine that he could improve enough to be competitive, but it’s possible if Braehmer can fight the same way he did against Brancalion on Saturday night.

In other action on the same card, World Boxing Association Inter-Continental heavyweight champion Denis Boytsov (25-0, 20 KOs) stopped Ukrainian Taras Bidenko (26-3, 12 KOs) in the 6th round. Boytsov, 23, hurt Bidenko, 29, with an uppercut in the 6th and then unleashed a flurry of shots that Bidenko somehow took without going down.

However, seconds later after it looked as if Bidenko was out of trouble, Boytsov attacked him and landed a short left uppercut that sent Bidenko down. He immediately got to his feet, but staggered around the ring, causing referee Terry O’Connor to step in and halt the bout at 2:00 of the 6th.

Boytsov, ranked number #5 in the WBA and #7 in the WBO, got the better of Bidenko in the first round landing sharp combinations. Bidenko, 6’4”, was able to use his reach for most of the round, jabbing Boytsov on the outside and making it hard for the Russian to get his shots off.

However, Boytsov was able to land just enough power shots to win the round, but Boytsov’s short 6’1” height made it a lot harder than it might have been if he were a taller heavyweight. Bidenko controlled the 2nd round with his hard jab, hitting Boytsov over and over again while on the inside. Boytsov landed some nice combinations but he ate a lot of jabs in the round from Bidenko.

In the 3rd round, Boytsov began to put much more pressure on Bidenko, walking through his jabs and getting in close to pound him with uppercuts and hooks to the head and body. Bidenko fought reasonably well until late in the round when Boytsov began to hammer him with big right hands to the head at close range. Bidenko tried to escape but Boytsov caught him on the ropes and teed off on him for the remainder of the round.

In the 4th round, Boytsov’s big shots and heavy pressure began to wear Bidenko down, as Boytsov was able to land a lot of hard during the round. For his part, Bidenko continued to mostly jab, but he was throwing fewer jabs at this point. The 5th round was all Boytsov, with him pounding a beaten and tired looking Bidenko around the ring with heavy shots.

In the 6th, Bidenko looked worn out, both eyes reddened and slightly swollen from the hard shots from the shorter Boytsov. Near the end of the round, Boytsov caught Bidenko with a hard right uppercut to the head that hurt Bidenko. Boytsov then landed a flurry of uninterrupted punches, some 21 punches, which ended with a left uppercut to the head that sent Bidenko down. The fight was then stopped by the referee.



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