Kentikian-Toktaulova on December 5th – Boxing News

By Boxing News - 11/27/2008 - Comments

Image: Kentikian-Toktaulova on December 5th - Boxing NewsBy Erik Schmidt: In a stay busy fight WBA/WIBF flyweight champion Susi Kentikian (22-0, 16 KOs) will defend her titles in a 10-round bout against Russian Anastasia Toktaulova (13-9, 2 KOs) on December 5th at the Sporthalle Brandberge, Halle an der Saale, in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. Kentikian, only 22, has breezed through seven title defenses of her WBA belt since winning it against Carolina Alvarez in a 9th round stoppage in February 2007.

Since then, she’s rarely had a tough fight, stopping four of her seven opponents put in front of her. Of her opponents, only Nadia Hokmi, a tall 5’5″ long-armed fighter from France who Kentikian had to settle for a 10-round split decision win over in May 2007. Kentikian, however, would later win a clear cut 10-round unanimous decision victory over Hokmi in December 2007.

In Kentikian’s most recent bout, a 10-round unanimous decision over Hagar Shmoulefeld Finer in August, Kentikian dominated the tough Finer from start to finish, hitting her with short, fast combinations at close range, before moving away on the outside. Kentikian used a combination of constant movement and fast flurries to befuddle Finer and make her look bad in the process.

The bout was fairly close in the first five rounds due to Finer’s big clubbing right hand shots and her heavy pressure, but starting in the 6th round, Kentikian began to pull away from Finer, nailing her with accurate combinations on the inside and then pulling back to the outside.

In the 7th and 8th rounds, Kentikian looked magnificent, moving around the ring and stopping occasionally to rip into the slower Finer with a dozen or more punches to the head and body and then getting back on her bicycle and moving out of range.

In rounds nine and ten, Kentikian continued to rattle Finer with fast combinations to the head and easily win the rounds. Finer, however, looked as if she was the one winning the rounds, as she raised her hands to the German audience after every round and looked a little out of touch with the reality of what was going on in the ring.

As for Kentikian’s opponent on December 5th, Toktaulova, 31, would appear to have next to no chance at pulling off an upset over Kentikian. With little power to speak of, Toktaulova must hope that she can get lucky somehow and score a knockout over Kentikian because minus that, Toktaulova is going to take a major beating and will likely get taken out before long.

On the undercard, top middleweight contender Sebastian Zbik (24-0, 9 KOs) will take on Christophe Karagoz (17-13-4, 4 KOs) in an eight-round bout. Ranked #1 in the World Boxing Organization, #3 in the WBA and #6 in the WBC, Zbik is within striking distance of a title match against WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, and for that reason, playing it safe by fighting the C-class Karagoz rather than a top level fighter that would be more fitting for his level of fighting.

In other action, super featherweight contender Vitali Tajbert (17-0, 6 KOs) will be making a huge step up in competition against EBU (European) super featherweight champion Sergey Gulyakevich (25-1, 12 KOs).

Tajbert, 26, ranked #4 in the WBA and #10 in the WBC, has looked average for many of his fights, appearing to lose to a 12-round bout to Spaniard Jesus Garcia Escalona in February. However, Tajbert got the decision and moved on but looked bad.

Gulyakevich, 26, 5’10”, from Belarus, will have a huge five inch height advantage over the small 5’5” Tajbert and will be able to jab him from the outside without worrying about getting hit by Tajbert’s shorter punches.

Also on the card, undefeated German heavyweight Sebastian Köber (16-0, 11 KOs) will fight Dieter Roth (19-0, 12 KOs). Kober, 29, a former amateur star, needs to dramatically step up the pace on his career if he wants to one day challenge for the title.