World Title Fight… First In Russia
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MOSCOW (AP) — Oleg Maskaev successfully defended his WBC heavyweight crown Sunday with a unanimous decision over Peter Okhello in the first world title fight in Russia.
The 37-year-old Maskaev (34-5, 26 knockouts) captured the WBC title in August with a 12th-round knockout of Hasim Rahman. Okhello, a 34-year-old Ugandan who lives in Japan, dropped to 18-8.
Maskaev kept Okhello backpedaling in the early rounds and knocked him down with seconds left in the fourth round at Olympisky Stadium.
Early in the 10th, Maskaev put Okhello into the ropes and later in the round battered him to a standstill with short jabs to the head.
The sellout crowd of 10,000, which included WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev and former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, called for a knockout, but Maskaev couldn’t land the blow.
With almost twice the number of contacts Maskaev knocked Othello to the win. Although Othello was an excellent opponent and it seemed to be a good even bout but Maskaev managed to put Othello down at the end of the 10th round
“Not all worked smoothly today,” Maskaev said. “But then I slowly braced myself and make it to the victory.”
“I expected the fight to be long. Peter Othello was tough. I tested him several times, knocked him down but he withstood.”
The judges scored the bout 120-107, 118-109 and 120-107.
Maskaev was born in Kazakhstan when it was part of the Soviet Union, but has lived in the United States for a decade and is a U.S. and Russian citizen. President Vladimir Putin granted Maskaev Russian citizenship a day before the bout.
Another great fight as always. I do enjoy these even though I may not have the time to watch all the fights. Being as it is that I am 100% Irish, I feel it is in my blood to enjoy a good fight no matter what sport.
Snippet was courtesy of LEONID CHIZHOV, Associated Press Writer
Latter,
Nick
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