Khurtsidze Stops Bahki, Uzelkov Destroys Varga – Boxing Results

By Boxing News - 07/20/2009 - Comments

avtandil23By Erik Schmidt: Middleweight contender Avtandil Khurtsidze (19-1-2, 12 KO’s) put on an impressive punching display in stopping Jamel Bahki (19-3-2, 5 KO’s) in a 5th round stoppage on Saturday night at the Sportpalace, in Odessa, Ukraine. Khurtsidze, 25, ranked number #4 in the World Boxing Association middleweight division, swarmed Bahki with punches from rounds two through five, knocking Bahki down once in the 3rd and having him staggering at the end of the 5th.

In between the 5th and 6th rounds, Bahki’s corner decided to have the fight stopped. The win was an important one for Khurtsidze, because he’s close to getting an eventual title shot against WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm.

Only 5’4”, Khurtsidze had problems with Bahki, 29, in the first round, eating a lot of jabs and combinations from the taller Bahki. However, Khurtsidze, who is built like a mini tank, kept the pressure on Bahki, forcing him to move constantly or else have to fight him at close range. Fighting Khurtsidze on then inside is hard to do, as Bahki found out, because Khurtsidze never stopped punching for a second.

After a good first round, Bahki began to have problems with Khurtsidze’s pressure in the 2nd round. Bahki fended off Khurtsidze well in the first half of the round, but in the later half, Khurtsidze began to unload on Bahki with big uppercuts to the head and powerful combinations to the body.

Bahki tried clinching, but it wasn’t working as well as it did in the first round because Khurtsidze was closing the distance much faster and chewing Bahki up on the inside. In the 3rd round, Khurtsidze landed a massive amount of hard body shots against the tiring Bahki and in the last seconds of the round, Khurtsidze dropped Bahki with a flurry of shots against the ropes. Khurtsidze hurt Bahki with a left hook to the head and then flurried on him until he went down from the heavy shots.

In the 4th round, Bahki was nearly defenseless from the attacks of Khurtsidze, as the Georgian fighter was all over him during the entire round hitting him with combinations to the body and head at close range. Bahki tried moving away laterally, but Khurtsidze, expertly moved along with him, cutting off the ring well. In the 5th round, Khurtsidze hammered Bahki at will with big shots.

Near the end of the round, Khurtsidze caught Bahki against the ropes and unloaded with a storm of punches, hurting Bahki and having him staggering about to go. At the end of the round, Khurtsidze thoughtfully helped Bahki by grabbing him and steering him back to his corner. In between rounds, Bahki’s corner decided to have the fight stopped.

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In other action on the card, light heavyweight contender Vyacheslav Uzelkov (21-0, 13 KO’s) stopped Romanian Istvan Varga (14-8, 5 KO’s) in the 1st round of a scheduled 10-round bout. Uzelkov, 30, was making his first appearance in eight months, knocked Varga to the canvas with a left hook in the opening seconds of the fight. Varga looked badly stunned as he got to his feet.

Uzelkov, ranked #2 in the World Boxing Association, #5 WBO, #12 IBF and #14 in the WBC, then finished Varga off with two jabs and a right hand, sending him down for the final time. The While Varga was down, Uzelkov added a left-right combination. With Uzelkov’s number #2 ranking in the WBA, he’s in a prime position to get a fight against champion Gabriel Campillo, who Uzelkov had already beaten previously in a 6th round TKO in September 2007.

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Light middleweight prospect Siarhei Rabchanko (9-0, 5 KO’s) defeated Boris Akopov (4-10-1, 3 KO’s) by a 3rd round stoppage. After having problems with Akopov’s fast hand speed in the first two rounds, Rabchanko, 23, found the winning ticket in the 3rd round by going to the body. Rabchanko knocked Akopov down twice with hard body shots. After the second knockdown, the fight was stopped.



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