By Erik Schmidt: Undefeated heavyweight prospect Alexander Ustinov (13-0, 11 KOs) made an impressive display of punching power in taking out seven foot American journeyman Julius Long (15-10, 13 KOs) in the 1st round on the undercard of Vitali Klitschko vs. Samuel Peter on Saturday night at the O2 Arena, Kreuzberg, in Berlin, Germany.

Ustinov, 31, a huge 6’7” 300 lb. heavyweight from Belarus, staggered Long, 31, with two solid right hands late in the first round. Ustinov then chased after Long and dropped him to the canvas with a powerful right hand. The fight was quickly stopped because Long was too badly hurt to continue fighting. Ustinov went right after Long at the bell, throwing hard right hands to the head and short left hooks.

Long, who was coming off an eight round decision loss to German based heavyweight prospect Odlanier Solis, landed a good left hand while trapped in the corner. This seemed to get Ustinov into the punching mood, for he immediately landed a huge right hand to the head of Long, and then four consecutive rights, the last two staggered Long. Once he had him hurt, Ustinov finished the job with a hard right hand that dropped Long to the canvas.

Ustinov, who fights for K2 East Promotions, the company run by the Klitschko brothers, is a fighter that may make waves in the heavyweight division in the near future. With his size, reach and power, he’s a fighter that would probably be difficult for most of the top heavyweights to handle. His fighting style is similar to Vitali Klitschko, except Ustinov’s right hand isn’t quite as good. However, his short left hook is about as good and his jab is excellent.

Like Vitali, he’s hard to hit cleanly to the head, because he often leans back from shots, and his height keeps him out of range of the shots of shorter punchers. Ustinov might already be good enough to contend against the better heavyweights in the division. Indeed, he looked good enough to beat Samuel Peter, that’s for sure. However, Ustinov needs to start facing better competition than fighters like Long, because he appears to have the talent to face much better opposition at this point than what he’s been fighting in the past year.