Moscow, Russia – Russian super middleweight Pavel Silyagin capped off his debut year in paid ranks with a solid fourth-round stoppage of veteran journeyman Sergey Khomistkiy (32-20-3, 14 KOs). Silyagin, 27, a bigger, taller and much younger of the two, has been easily dispatching his 46-year old opponent for four rounds, rarely taking anything in return.
Khomitskiy, whose latest known upset wins were stoppages of 12-0 Frank Buglioni (in 2014) and 18-0 Adam Etches (in 2015), was gutsy enough to survive one knockdown in the third, and one knockdown in the fourth rounds, but suffered a rib injury in the process and thus was retired by his corner after the fourth round. Silyagin improves to 5-0, 3 KOs.
WBO #7 and IBF #8 bantamweight Nikolay Potapov (22-2-1, 11 KOs) scored a workmanlike unanimous decision over Ukrainian import Olexander Hryschuk (16-3, 6 KOs) over eight uneventful rounds in a stay-busy fight.
Potapov, 30, was unable to find Hryschuk anywhere in the ring because the latter was always moving backwards. The Ukrainian, 34, who was once ranked in top-ten of the WBA, chose to run rather than to fight, and he was able to avoid any damage making up for a boring contest, This loss was his third in a row.
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Valery Oganessyan (4-0, 3 KOs) acquired Russian national light welterweight title, his first career belt, with a solid stoppage over experienced veteran journeyman Dmitry “The Mechanic” Mikhaylenko after six complete rounds.
The fight could have been a solid step-up in class for Oganessyan but Mikhaylenko has been on his way down for quite some time, being just 2-7 over the last four and a half years, which followed more pleasant times in the States with wins over such fighters as Sechew Powell, Ronald Cruz, Johan Perez and Karim Mayfield.
The Mechanic appeared to be far removed from his better days and shape. He was lethargic and more prone to eat punches than to deliver them. He was a formal aggressor in the first couple of rounds just because inexperienced Oganessyan was slowly adjusting to the ring and to his opponent. As soon as the Armenian established himself in the ring, the bout turned into a painful route for Mikhaylenko, who was just unable to get it going. Oganessyan slowly put up more and more pressure up until a moment Mikhaylenko was in no position to soak up more punishment. The Mechanic is now 23-8, with 10 KOs.
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Amateur superstar Hasanboy Dusmatov (2-0, 2 KOs) made a scorching return to the ring more than a year after his pro debut and stopped fellow debutant Odiljon Sotkinov (0-1) in one round.
The 2016 Rio light flyweight gold medalist and Val Barker trophy owner dropped Sotkinov four times with hard right hands to get a stoppage at 2:55 of the opening session. Dusmatov is 27.
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Armenian Karen Tonakanyan (1-0, 1 KO) made a solid pro debut by stopping former world-rated contender-turned-journeyman Andrey Isaev (30-19, 9 KOs) of Belarus within two rounds. Tonakanyan immediately put pressure on Isaev and got him in trouble in the second round. Referee Andrei Kurnyavka stopped the fight with Isaev being wobbled and dazed in the corner. It was his twelfth consecutive loss.
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Cruiserweight Vladimir Kelesh (9-0, 6 KOs) scored a solid unanimous decision against very durable but ultimately overmatched Ukrainian import Vadim Novopashyn (6-2, 2 KOs) over eight rounds in what was quite a slow-paced fight. Kelesh’s superiority was well felt and seen but Novopashyn has never been in trouble of getting down or out due to his overall durability and solid chin.