Pavel Sosulin provided another impressive performance at IBA Champions’ Night, successfully defending his WBA Asia Middleweight title with a third-round knockout in Yerevan.

He faced Carlo Bacaro of the Philippines, who was competing outside of his home country professionally for the first time, and over 10 rounds, but the contest concluded long before the 30 minutes of action had been completed.

Sosulin, who won his fifth IBA Champions’ Night fight yesterday evening, was on top of his opponent from the bell and delivered strong quality boxing throughout. In the second round, a right uppercut combined with a left hand to the body forced a knockdown, which Bacaro survived. While he made the bell, he would not complete the third round – again facing a torrent of attacks and going down, overwhelmed by the work of the Russian boxer.

Davit Chaloyan was the biggest Armenian winner of the evening, defeating Vitaly Kudukhov in the 92+kg weight division. The taller home favorite used his longer reach to his advantage against the Russian, sitting off the pressure and responding to the pockets of success of Kudukhov with large amounts of success.

Kudukhov provided a spirited performance and worked hard throughout, but Chaloyan’s footwork and ability to keep his opponent at a distance helped the Armenian win by unanimous decision.

A popular win went the way of Narek Manasyan, who surpassed Nigeria’s Austine Nnamdi at the 92kg weight limit, giving the Armenian his first IBA Champions’ Night triumph. Both boxers contributed to a fantastic six-round bout, peppered with moments of true drama, with difficulty shown throughout. Nnamdi pulled off moments of brilliance that would have brought a lesser athlete into a spin, but Manasyan was able to stand firm. His own highlights led to a win that caused cheers around the arena.

Khuseyn Baysangurov ended the undefeated streak of Venezuela’s Leonardo Sanchez in their 10-round contest. Sanchez was victorious in 16 professional matches with one draw, while Baysangurov was aiming for his 25^th victory, holding just one professional defeat.

A typical Baysangurov display saw the Russian looking stoic, hardly shaken and capable of throwing punches at a ferocious pace within the opening three rounds of the contest, while the Venezuelan was finding little way to push Baysangurov backwards.

That was until around the midpoint of the 10-round contest where Sanchez started to enjoy spells of aggression, determined not to make it an inevitable result, but it was in the final two rounds that Sanchez gave judges a lot to think about – coming firm on his feet and startling his opponent. By round eight, both boxers were bloodied and beaten but took the fight all the way to the final bell, where Baysangurov won by majority decision.

Gurgen Madoyan came back from an early shake to defeat Kudratillo Abdukakorov of Uzbekistan by a unanimous decision in the 71kg weight category. What was an even bout in the opening round turned on its head when Abdukakorov landed an overhand southpaw left to Madoyan which the Uzbek celebrated with a shimmy in the second round. The Uzbek fighter was looking strong and hungry, but equally, the Armenian was defiant when struck. The late rounds saw Madoyan pick up more points and a final round highlight consisting of copious amounts of punches sealed his victory.

Anis Chilaev representing Tajikistan was victorious against Armenia’s Karen Tonakanyan in the 63.5kg contest. Chilaev set a precedent early for being the aggressor, finding combinations in the earlier rounds that suggested Tonakanyan would need to rally to come back from thew deficit. However, Chilaev was in control of the bout and was named the winner.

Alexandru Paraschiv silenced the home crowd after beating Ararat Harutyunyan in the 67kg division. The Moldovan victor was stronger in the opening couple of rounds and faced little issue, until Harutyunyan changed his game plan to take a more controlled stance to the delight of the crowd. When the Moldovan got on the front foot, he was still susceptible to offence from the Armenian who connected with a sweet right hook in the fifth round on the defence. Chasing a knockdown and an attempt to claw back points, Paraschiv went hard in the final round, but again was struck on the jaw by the home favorite. Little could be found between the pair and what was a tight affair.

In the opening contest of the night, Artur Bazeyan was the victor by a unanimous decision in a lively bout with Albania’s Ardit Murja in the 60kg division. The Armenian piled pressure onto his adversary, particularly in rounds four and six, looking likely to knock his opponent down, but Murja lasted the length of the fight, to his credit.

Another great night of boxing delilvered by the International Boxing Association. IBA continues to be a dominant force in the world of boxing, excelling in all aspects of the sport.

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Media contacts:

Elena Sobol, Head of Communications and PR, International Boxing Association: elena.sobol@iba.sport

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