By Erik Schmidt: Unbeaten light heavyweight prospect Igor Michalkin (10-0, 7 KOs) had a tougher than expected fight on Saturday night, beating journeyman Karim Bennama (17-12-2, 4 KOs) in a grueling eight-round unanimous decision at the Koenig Pilsener Arena, Oberhausen, in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
The final judges’ scores were 79-74, 80-72, and 79-73. It was lucky for Michalkin that the fight was only an eight round bout, because he suffered a cut over his left eye and a badly swollen right eye that may have been a problem if the bout had been a 12 rounder.
Michalkin, 24, dominated Bennama through most of the bout using his straight left hand and right hook to win the rounds. Michalkin landed well with his straight left hand in rounds one through three, moving forward and keeping the pressure on Bennama.
The first three rounds were pretty one-sided with Bennama only occasionally landing a shot. However, his punches seemed to have more effect than the constant punches that Michalkin was raining down at him at all times. In the first round, Michalkin looked very impressive fighting behind his jab.
Bennama was finding it hard to get near enough to land his harder shots due to Michalkin’s frequent jabs, and had to be content with landing when Michalkin would let up for a second. In the 2nd round, Michalkin began to land more power shots, firing straight lefts to the head and body and dispensing with his jab.
Michalkin disguised many of his hooks by making it seem as if he were going to throw a jab, and would turn it over and hook to the side of Bennama’s head. Michalkin kept the pressure up on Bennama and caught him up against the ropes near the end of the round and landed a storm of punches before Bennama had the presence of mind to get away.
At the start of the 3rd round, Michalkin cuffed Bennama with a hard right hand at the start of the round almost knocking Bennama down. For the remainder of the round, Michalkin got the better of Bennama with hard straight left hands.
Bennama, however, began to land much more in this round and was able to take advantage of Michalkin’s aggression by landing some big shots. In the 4th and 5th rounds, Michalkin did a much better job of avoiding the big shots from Bennama as he ducked many of his big punches as he would wade in to land his own straight left hands.
In the 6th and 7th, Michalkin began to look tired, and his left eye began to swell up badly. Michalkin was cut over his right eye in the 7th round after a clash of heads with Bennama. However, Michalkin was still able to dominate Bennama with left hands as Bennama just wasn’t able to land with enough regularity to start stealing some rounds.
In the 8th, Michalkin’s left eye was looking really bad as if it might close, but he still pressed forward and ended the fight on a strong note by pouring in a lot of good combinations in the round.
Also on the card, Romanian heavyweight prospect Christian Hammer (2-0, 1 KOs) stopped Latvian journeyman Aleksandrs Borhovs (7-33-1, 3 KOs) in the 2nd round. Hammer, 21, dropped Borhovs twice in the 1st round with big right hands and then dropped him for a 3rd time in the 2nd round at which point the bout was stopped by referee Uwe Lorch at 1:05 of the round.
Hammer, only 21, looked very powerful in the opening round, blasting Borhovs with right hands in the opening minute of the round. Hammer caught Borhovs with a chopping right hand that staggered him early in the round, sending him to the ropes.
Hammer then dropped Borhovs with a crushing right hand to the head. Borhovs got up looking hurt and began to take immediate punishment from Hammer, who drove him across the ring with powers shots, mostly right hands, to the head.
Once again, Hammer knocked Borhovs down with a hard right hand to the head as the round was near the end. Just after Borhovs got to his feet and the action resumed, Hammer rushed across the ring and landed a hard right hand that hurt Borhovs further. However, the round ended before Hammer could have the chance to knock Borhovs down again.
In the 2nd round, Hammer hurt Borhovs with a left to the body that sent Borhovs in full retreat. Hammer then added several more big body shots as Borhovs moved to the ropes. Hammer then landed a big chopping right hand that staggered Borhovs. Hammer then finished him off with one more right hand that sent Borhovs for the final time. The bout was then stopped at 1:05 of the round by the referee.
In other action on the card, super featherweight contender Vitali Tajbert defeated Rudy Encarnacion by a six round unanimous decision. The final judges’ scores were 60-54, 59-56, and 59-55.
Heavyweight prospect Manuel Charr stopped American Ramon Hayes in the 3rd round.