Povetkin destroys Perez; Chakhkiev stops Wright

By Boxing News - 05/22/2015 - Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOxE7sTEQko

By Jim Dower: Former WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (29-1, 21 KOs) made short work of #2 WBC contender Mike Perez (21-2-1, 13 KOs) in knocking him out in the 1st round on Friday night in their WBC heavyweight title eliminator bout at the Luzhniki, in Moscow, Russia.

In the opening seconds of the round, Povetkin staggered the 29-year-old Perez with a right to the head that totally took the Cuban’s legs away. Perez was basically out on his feet. Moments later, Povetkin dropped Perez with a short right to the head when the two of them were close together. The shot dropped Perez on the canvas. Perez got to his feet but he was badly hurt.

Povetkin then connected with another right hand to the head of Perez that put him down on the canvas for the second and final time in the round. The referee then halted the bout at 1:31 of the 1st round.

With this win, Povetkin is now the WBC mandatory challenger to WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. That should be a good fight if Wilder gets past his June 13th title defense against Eric Molina. The 35-year-old Povetkin is on a hot streak since his loss to IBF/IBO/WBA heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in 2013. Since that defeat, Povetkin has beaten Manuel Charr, Carlos Takam and now Mike Perez by knockouts. The 6’7″ Deontay has the size to keep Povetkin on the outside, but until he ties him up the way that Wladimir did, Deontay could be in for a tough fight. He’s not going to be able to take right hands from Povetkin all night long without something giving.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atehkh7PhZw

#3 IBf, #5 WBC, #6 WBO, #11 WBA cruiserweight contender Rakhim Chakhkiev (23-1, 18 KOs) stopped American Junior Anthony Wright (13-1-1, 11 KOs) in the 8th round with a painful looking left to the body that sent Wright down on his pack for the 10 count. Wright was too hurt to get back up to beat the count. The 32-year-old Chakhkiev did a good job of making it look like he was going to throw his left to the head, but instead he threw the shot to the body of Wright and this sent him down to the canvas in agony.

For much of the fight, Wright used movement to keep from getting hit by Chakhkiev. Wright looked like he was just trying to survive rather than in the fight.

***

WBC cruiserweight champion Grigory Drozd (40-1, 28 KOs) had an easy time defeating replacement opponent Lukasz Janik (28-3, 15 KOs) by a 9th round knockout. Drozd hurt Janik in the 9th, causing referee Ian-John Lewis to stop the fight at 0:50 of the round. Drozd also knocked Janik down in the 7th round in putting him on his backside.

Drozd was supposed to have been fighting former WBC cruiserweight champion Krzystof Wlodarczyk in a rematch, but the Polish fighter was sick and couldn’t take the fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqerDxTH-20

Other boxing results on the card:

Grigory Drozd TKO 9 Lukasz Janik
Rakhim Chakhkiev KO 8 Junior Anthony Wright
Dmitry Kudryashov KO 6 Vikapita Meroro
Manuel Charr UD 10 Alex Leapai



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