By Erik Schmidt: Undefeated light welterweight contender Sergey Fedchenko (23-0, 11 KOs) stopped Argentinean Diego Jesus Ponce (16-5-2, 2 KOs) in the 7th round on Wednesday night at the Sportpalace Lokomotiv, in Kharkov, Ukraine. Fedchenko, 28, landed two big right hands in the 7th and then a powerful left to the body that sent Ponce downward.
While he was on his way down, Fedchenko added a glancing right uppercut that finished Ponce off. Ponce staggered to his feet at the count of 9, but referee Ingo Barrabas stopped the fight anyway.
Fedchenko dominated most of the fight using hard combinations to the body. Ponce, from Argentina, mostly threw jabs during the fight and didn’t have the offensive firepower to make it interesting.
Fedchenko, ranked #15 in the IBF, fought well in the first round, throwing hard left-right combinations and stalking Ponce around the ring. Fedchenko held both hands down at times trying to get Ponce to attack him. Ponce did little in the round other than landing handful of jabs and one right hand. He looked intimidated and afraid to let his hands go. Ponce’s had a small cut on the bridge of his nose by the end of the first. It wasn’t a bad cut, but it would worsen slightly as the fight progressed.
In the 2nd round, Ponce circled the ring, firing off combinations and jabs. Fedchenko, however, continued to get the better of Ponce and landed a lot more shots. Ponce’s nose began to bleed in the round.
Fedchenko fought cautiously in the 3rd and 4th rounds, rarely letting his hands go. He stalked Ponce around like in the previous rounds but seemed wary to throw shots for some reason. When he did let his hands go, Fedchenko was effective as he landed some nice body shots in both rounds. He didn’t have as much power on his head shots, though.
In the 5th and 6th rounds, Fedchenko began to tee off on Ponce and batter him with big shots. Ponce was now looking exhausted and taking a lot of punishment. He continued to circle and jab, but neither were helpful in keeping Fedchenko off of him.
In the 6th round, Ponce was cut on the side of his left eye and his nose was bleeding much more. Fedchenko landed at will in the round and it was clear that the fight wouldn’t go that much longer due to the punishment that Ponce was absorbing.
Ponce tried to put up a fight in the 7th round, jabbing and moving. However, Fedchenko moved in quickly and landed two powerful right hands that stunned Ponce and then hit him with a left to the body that sent Ponce down. The fight was then stopped by the referee.
In other action, light middleweight prospect Zaurbek Baysangurov (20-1, 15 KOs) was too much for Mikheil Khucishvili (11-7-2, 4 KOs), hurting him at the end of the round with several big right hands. In between rounds, Khucishvili quit on his stool and failed to come out for the 2nd round.
Baysangurov, 24, was making his first appearance since being stopped by Cornelius Bundrage in the 5th round in December. Baysangurov landed had left and rights to the body in the 1st, following Khucishvili around the ring.
Khucishvili fired back with some hooks and found it easy to land against Baysangurov. Near the end of the round, Baysangurov landed a big clubbing right hand that staggered Khucishvili. Baysangurov then further staggered Khucishvili with two more solid right hands and the round came to a close.
Unbeaten Ukrainian heavyweight prospect Andrey Rudenko (13-0, 6 KOs) destroyed Yuri Gorbenko (0-3) in the 2nd round of a scheduled 8-round bout. Rudenko, 25, cornered Gorbenko late in the 2nd round and pounded him with a flurry of shots as Gorbenko stood against the ropes trying to cover up. Referee Nikolay Puchko stepped in finally to halt the fight at 2:58 of the 2nd.
Gorbenko would have made it out of the round, but he had been taking a lot of punishment in both rounds so it’s best that the fight was stopped when it was. Rudenko reminded me a lot of Alexander Povetkin, although not quite as tall or as good with his left hand. However, Rudenko showed a lot of power with his right and did a lot of damage with it alone in the two rounds. Gorbenko missed often with wild shots in two rounds and caught a lot of big right hands from Rudenko.
Welterweight Viktor Plotnikov (21-1, 10 KOs) won a lopsided 10-round decision over Aleksander Benidze (10-10-2, 5 KOs). Plotnikov, 31, a light puncher, controlled the fight with his jabs and short combinations. Benidze, 25, pushed the action and a lot, but wasn’t able to land with regularity due to the movement from Plotnikov.
The fight was competitive until the 6th when Plotnikov began to land almost nonstop with his punches as Benidze began to tire out. In the last three rounds, Plotnikov easily landed jabs and combinations as Benidze looked exhausted and couldn’t come back with anything.
Undefeated lightweight prospect Valentin Golovko (8-0, 5 KOs) won an 8-round unanimous decision over Oleg Tolochko (1-3, 1 KOs). The final judges’ scores were 79-76, 80-72 and 79-73. Golovko dominated the entire eight rounds of the fight with his jabs and uppercuts. I can’t see how Tolochko was given even one round, because he was never competitive for an instant.