The pugilistic pace is accelerating in Russia and Kazakhstan at the year’s end, even despite an ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which disrupted everything in Eastern Europe.
The biggest card is pre-planned by the RCC Boxing Promotions on Dec. 11 in Ekaterinburg, which features local stars Magomed Kurbanov and Evgueny Tischenko as well as Zhora Khamazaryan vs. Jorge Linares showdown.
There is a number of smaller, low-key events, also scheduled for December.
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On December 11, Alimzhan Kaldiyarov of the JoJo Promotions, stages a local event at the Almaty Arena in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Headlining the card is rarely fighting but still undefeated veteran Zhankosh Turarov (25-0, 18 KOs), who takes on Venezuelan Luis Enrique Romero (11-5-1, 7 KOs) over ten rounds for a vacant IBO I/C light welterweight title. Turarov, 32, fought in obscurity for years since his pro debut almost fourteen years ago and started to raise his level of opposition not long before COVID-19 put a two-year halt to his career.
In a co-main event, super flyweight Angelina Lukas (2-0, 1 KO) fights Lulu Kayage (8-8-4, 2 KOs) of Tanzania for a vacant UBO 115lb belt. There are five more bouts on the card, Yelkhan Tabynbayev (5-0, 3 KOs) versus Matheus Da Silva (7-0, 3 KOs) being the most intriguing of them.
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Nelson Lopez Jr., a long-time friend of mid-circuit Kazakhstani boxing, will come back to the country five days after with a show of his own. It’s penciled to take place at the ice hockey arena of Barys, the KHL team which is based in Astana.
Undefeated ethnic Kazakhstani Yelshat “The Kazakh Warrior” Nikhemttolla (17-0-1, 5 KOs) will fight for the third time in his ethnic homeland – this time against Filipino Renz Rosia (17-9-1, 9 KOs) for the vacant WBC International Silver bantamweight title.
Nikhemttola, 28, fought mostly in China, where he was born. His biggest win is a unanimous decision over 35-14-1 Ardin Diale, also of the Philippines.
Light welterweight Ablaikhan Khussainov (11-0, 8 KOs) clashes against Brazilian import Anderson Dener (6-2, 5 KOs) over eight rounds in the second biggest fight of the show, which will also feature several more bouts.
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Shamir Petrosyan of Shamo Boxing stages another multi-fight card on December 17 in Moscow, Russia. Several Russian Armenians will headline the event.
In the featured fight of the night, formerly world-rated lightweight / light welterweight Aik Shakhnazaryan (26-4-1, 13 KOs) is scheduled for ten versus 32-year-old Tanzanian Ismail Galiatano (11-4-3, 3 KOs), who looked solid in a couple of fights against Polish boxers earlier this year.
Sensational Armenian veteran Artur Ter Israelyan (3-0, 3 KOs) will have a chance to become the oldest Russian cruiserweight champion in a fight versus journeyman Alexander Zubkov (8-5, 7 KOs), who is 3-0, 2 KOs, in 2022. Ter Israelyan, who debuted in March, is 42 years of age. The title is vacant now.
Vaghinak Tamrazyan (19-8, 5 KOs), who scored his biggest career win this March against 34-7 Mexican veteran Dante Jardon, looks to continue where he left off. Tamrazyan, not a spring chicken at 37, faces Denis Mwale (9-4, 4 KOs) of Malawi.
Anna Krasnoperova (7-0, 3 KOs) clashed against Yulia Kutsenko (9-3-1, 4 KOs) in an all-action women’s six-rounder, while prospects Emir Basirov (6-0, 5 KOs) and Denis Savitskiy (6-0-1, 4 KOs) will see action against African opponents.
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Alexander Zolkin of Art City and Alexey Vasilyev of A-Angels unify their efforts to stage a tiny, yet colorful event in the remote city of Barnaul, which is set to take place on December 22 at the Titov arena.
Barnaul is several thousand kilometers to the East of Moscow, on the border with both China and Kazakhstan. Headlining the show is once-WBO-rated super middleweight power banger Artysh Lopsan. The Tuva native (Tuva is a small republic in the vicinity of Barnaul) rose to fame last March when he stopped then-unbeaten multi-time Olympian for India Vijender Singh on his opponent’s home turf.
Crude and lanky (6’3’’) Lopsan is 9-1-1, with 6 KOs. He faces upset-minded journeyman Vasiliy Shtyk (5-4, 4 KOs) in a rematch of their June clash, which was won by Lopsan on a TKO 9 in a heated encounter. This fight is scheduled for ten.
Undefeated heavyweight prospect Arslan Iallyev (13-0, 8 KOs) will test his skills against Brazilian power puncher Igor Macedo (10-1, 10 KOs) over ten in a co-feature.