By Erik Schmidt: Interim World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight champion Yuriy Nuzhnenko (28-0-1, 13 KOs) defeated Uzbekistan fighter Ikbal Kurbanov (8-3, 3 KOs) by a 10-round decision on Saturday night at the Yunost Sport Palace, in Zaporizhia, Ukraine. Nuzhnenko, 32, dominated the fight from start to finish over Kurbanov, showing some excellent boxing skills and further showing why Nuzhnenko is the WBA champion. There were no knockdowns in the fight, as the light-punching Nuzhnenko tends to focus more on technical aspects of his game rather than trying to slug it out.
Kurbanov fought well in the first round, landing left hooks to the head of Nuzhnenko in the round. However, Nuzhnenko fought well in the last minute of the round landing some hard right hands to the head of Kurbanov to win the round.
In the second round, Nuzhnenko began to show more of his vast boxing skills, throwing short left hooks while fighting backwards, uppercuts, hooks, straight rights and left hands, and making it difficult to predict what punch he would throw next. In the last minute of the round, Kurbanov, showing an amateurish move, turned his back on Nuzhnenko and began walking away. Nuzhnenko took advantage of this by landing a couple of short right hooks to the face of Kurbanov while his back was still turned.
Nuzhnenko fought well in the 3rd round, hitting Kurbanov with jabs and short right hooks at the start of the round. Kurbanov, doing another odd move, retreated to his corner in the first minute of the round, and turning his back to Nuzhnenko once again, struck his head through the ropes and blew his nose into a waiting tray of his corner. Very strange. No timeout had been called during all this time. Luckily for Kurbanov, Nuzhnenko didn’t take advantage of this and pelt Kurbanov with shots while his back was turned. Kurbanov did very little in the round, limited to only a handful of right hands. In the meantime, Nuzhnenko continued dominating the action with right hands to the head.
In the 4th round, Nuzhnenko used his jab to pound Kurbanov in the first two minutes of the round. In the last minute, Nuzhnenko began landing right uppercuts to the head.
Nuzhnenko continued pressuring Kurbanov in the 5th round, pressing forward and hitting him with jabs and short right hands. Kurbanov, for his part, was now beginning to look fatigued and throwing few punches now. Indeed, he was mostly moving and trying to avoid getting hit by Nuzhnenko. Kurbanov fought better in the 6th round, landing some nice combinations. In the last minute of the round, Kurbanov landed a few hard shots. Still, it wasn’t quite enough to win the round as Nuzhnenko was much busier in the round.
In rounds seven and eight, Nuzhnenko stalked Kurbanov around the ring, hitting him with right hands, left hooks and keeping him on the ring. Kurbanov seemed as if he wanted to fight as little as possible and was only trying to survive until the end of the fight. Nuzhnenko had a small cut on over his left eye, but it wasn’t a problem.
In rounds nine and ten, Nuzhnenko stalked Kurbanov around the ring, hitting him nearly at will with combinations and jabs. By this time, the fight wasn’t even remotely competitive as Nuzhnenko was in clear control of the fight and beating Kurbanov up.