Sports Palace has never gathered so many prizefighters
The Saturday before last Kyiv hosted an international professional boxing tournament. The tournament’s key attractions were the bouts of Russian super-heavyweight Oleg Maskayev vs. American Cedrick Fields and Ukrainian heavyweight Volodymyr Virchis vs. Britain’s Julius Francis. It was not clear until very recently whom our compatriot would fight in the ring. At first, he was promised Ross Purity, the one who downed Volodymyr Klychko, but he failed to come to Kyiv due to a knee injury. Ross was quickly replaced by American Cliff Couser, called Tyson’s twin. But US tax men suggested that Iron Mike’s lookalike pay taxes and fight in peace, refusing to let him leave the country. In the long run, Volodymyr took on Julius Francis whom experts say is stronger than the two previously mentioned contenders.
After quite a long show program as a prelude, the honor to open a slugfest in the Palace of Sport was given to Ukrainian lightweights Serhiy Ruban and Tymofiy Kyriushkin. As these athletes had already met in the ring before, they seemed to know each other’s tactics. Memory did not fail Kyriushkin, and just at the beginning of a scheduled four-round bout he knocked out Ruban with a straight right-hander. While the shocked audience and Kyriushkin were catching their breath after such a wild start, doctors attended to the bludgeoned pugilist on the floor.
Next came Russian Dmitry Liakhovetsky and the tattooed German Rene Huebner. The Russian got off to a flying start and cut Huebner’s eyebrow as soon as in the second round. The German repelled the Russian’s sharp attacks with counterpunches, but the latter were not enough. Liakhovetsky celebrated a win on points after six rounds. Then came women’s boxing. The Kyiv- based world and European champion Alina Shaternikova boxed with lesser known Portuguese Sonia Pereira. Our compatriot convincingly won the six- round bout. And when the audience came to know that Alina had had a child four months before, they gave her thunderous applause.
Then came the turn of high-profile bouts. The ring received the current IBF second middle weight intercontinental champion Denis Inkin (Russia) and the Brazilian challenger Jose Hilton Dos Santos. The Russian showed an obvious edge from the very start. The Brazilian tried to quench Denis’ fervor with a series of counterattacks, but these failed to do his rival any real harm. With knockdowns in the fourth and sixth rounds, the bout ended with a TKO in the seventh. Jose’s fanatical devotion to boxing is worth mention. Defeated, he escaped from the infirmary and hid among the spectators to watch the next bouts. Finally his coach persuaded the boxer to go back to the changing room, showing him the X-ray of a rib fracture.
In the next bout, the vacant belt of a semi-heavy weight IBF intercontinental champion was won by our compatriot Vadym Safonov. During the three rounds, the Ukrainian cut both eyebrows of Russia’s Artem Vichkin. The bout was cut short after Artem was examined by doctors. Thus Vadym celebrated a TKO victory in the fourth round.
A breath-taking laser show preceded what most of the spectators came to see. First the American Cedrick Fields came into the ring. Hopping under the sounds of rap and flourishing his gloves, the khaki-clad black boxer made a strong impression on the audience. One might think Cedrick had already won. Then came Oleg Maskayev. He looked confident rather than proud — maybe because he beat Fields three years ago. What the spectators watched in Kyiv was a rematch. At first Oleg literally showered the rival with punches, and the impression was that the bout could finish as early as in the second round. But Fields turned out to be a hard nut to crack and proved himself a real fighter. Eight rounds rushed by as if it were one. “When you lose count of the rounds, it’s first-class boxing,” a lady fan next to me noted. The ninth was the last. After another wild attack by Maskayev, Fields began to bend to the ground, and a white towel was thrown in. The American’s second Henry Akenwande decided it was time to warm up. It took the indignant Cedrick a lot of time to regain his composure. He ran around the ring, demanding that the bout be continued. Fields had said in a television interview he would “rather die than give up.” Oleg Maskayev was in turn being congratulated and thanking the audience for “great support in such a serious test.” Verkhovna Rada Deputy Speaker Oleksandr Zinchenko best of all summed up the encounter: “A manly character, a brilliant victory!” It will be recalled that, still before the bout versus Fields, Maskayev challenged our Vitaly Klychko to fight. After a convincing victory over the American, a Ukrainian-Russian match would have been a nice treat for boxing fans.
The tournament culminated in a bout between super-heavyweights Volodymyr Virchis (Ukraine) and Julius Francis (Britain). This encounter became a serious professional test for Virchis, for Francis was once British super-heavyweight champion and boxed Mike Tyson. Our boxer entered the ring to a standing ovation. Both boxers were at first cautious. Volodymyr kept the situation under control and launched occasional middle— and long-distance attacks. Whenever it came to close-quarter fighting, the Briton put up an impenetrable defense. This irked Virchis as well as the spectators. When Francis bent and was about to butt Volodymyr, the Ukrainian punched the black boxer’s neck. In response, the latter threw the Ukrainian onto the ropes and indignantly appealed to the referee but was ignored. In the third round Julius had his eye slightly injured, but he quickly rallied his strength and continued the bout. The rest of the battle was a little sluggish. In the fifth round the Briton got bolder and began to attack, although this did not change the overall picture. The encounter was not as spectacular as was the one between Maskayev and Fields, with Volodymyr Virchis winning on points. All the judges preferred our fighter (118-110, 120-108, 118-110). This bout made Volodymyr the IBF Intercontinental Champion. Now all he has to do is hold onto the title, which is sometimes more difficult to do than to win it.
P. S. The Kyiv tournament, an excellent treat for boxing aficionados, was very successful for Ukrainian boxers. Still, a few words about the organization of this sporting extravaganza are in order. The level of boxing, the laser show, and the girls who carried the round number cards made a lasting impression on the audience. Yet, print media journalists, especially photo reporters, still have a sinking feeling. The point is the shutterbugs were not allowed to come to the ropes and had to photograph God knows what some distance away. It is sad when organizers need the media only for hype.
