By Jim Dower: No.1 WBO contender Ola Afolabi (19-2-3, 9 KO’s) overpowered #8 WBO contender Valery Brudov (39-4, 28 KO’s) by a 5th round TKO on Saturday night to capture the interim WBO cruiserweight title at the ESPRIT arena, in Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Afolabi, 31, knocked the 35-year-old Russian Brudov down twice in the fight – once in the 3rd and another time in the 5th round. The fight was halted after the 5th round ended, as Brudov had just taken a flurry of heavy shots from Afolabi while near the ropes and it was clear he wasn’t going to last long if he came out for the 6th. He had already been knocked down early in the round by a double left hook followed by a right hand from Afolabi.

Afolabi mostly used his powerful jab to control Brudov in rounds one and two. Afolabi really didn’t need to use much more than that because Brudov was getting solid with those jabs and was rarely throwing anything at all back at Afolabi. He looked intimidated and overmatched. Brudov’s nose started to bleed in the 2nd from Afolabi’s constant jabs to the face, which also reddened his face. Near the end of the round, Brudov connected with two two left hands that brought a big clubbing right hand from Afolabi in response.

In the 3rd round, Brudov was starting to get something going by landing two nice right hands to the head. However, Afolabi came back with a big right hand that sent Brudov to the canvas. Afolabi took it easy on Brudov for the most after the knockdown, just content to jab him and not really putting in any effort to take him out. Brudov offered up a few right hands during the remainder of the round but mostly ate jabs.

Afolabi continued with his jabbing clinic in the 4th, hitting Brudov repeatedly to the head and mixing in an occasional right hand shot. Brudov landed three or four rights during the round, but took an enormous amount of powerful jabs to the head that was turning his face red.

In the 5th round, Afolabi continued to jab Brudov over and over again. Brudov landed a hard right hand but Afolabi resisted unloading on him this time, instead continuing to jab. However, Afolabi finally tired of that and tagged Brudov with two left and a right to put him down on the canvas. After the knockdown, Brudov fought hard throwing powerful right hands that caught Afolabi, but did little to keep him off. Afolabi went from throwing jabs to throwing power shots and you could see that the punches were taking the energy out of Brudov like battery. Brudov landed some hard shots with 20 seconds to go in the round that led to Afolabi unloading on him with a series of power shots to the head that had Brudov looking dazed as the round ended. Immediately, referee Genaro Rodriguez walked up to Brudov after the bell sounded and waived off the fight.

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Ustinov blasts out Manswell

Undefeated heavyweight contender Alexander Ustinov (26-0, 20 KO’s), #3 WBA, #5 WBO, #12 IBF, bludgeoned 35-year-old Kertson Manswell (22-5, 17 KO’s) in stopping him by a 3rd round TKO in a scheduled eight round bout. Looking like a heavier version of Vitali Klitschko, the 6’7 1/2″ Ustinov attacked Manswell relentlessly with jabs, left hooks and short right hands. Manswell, 35, threw very few punches in the fight, especially in the first two rounds. He looked frightened for the most part, as each time he would land anything, Ustinov would retaliate with a series of hard shots.

Ustinov doesn’t have much in the way of hand speed, but he’s capable of throwing with decent power over and over again. He’s not a huge puncher but just having the guy hitting you with left hooks and chopping right hands has a wearing effect. The end came when Ustinov connected with two big chopping right hands that drove Manswell into the canvas. He got back to his feet his feet but the referee halted the fight at 1:18 of the round.

Ustinov is a real threat to the younger heavyweights like Tyson Fury, Robert Helenius and David Price. I’m not sure if he can beat any of them, but his size, decent power and left hook makes him a formidable opponent any of them. Ustinov’s age is working against him, however. He’s 35, but looks a lot older than that. He physically looks like someone 10 years older than that and he could age out unless he gets a shot soon. Of course, he stands no chance of beating any of the Klitschkos but he’d give Alexander Povetkin some problems.