“Tim, stop running!” Kurbanov confidently defeated the former WBO champion and again remembered Tszyu Jr.

RCC Boxing Promotions in Yekaterinburg held a large boxing stadium tournament (less publicized events are held on the territory of the academy with a capacity of five hundred spectators). Quite well-known Russians appeared on the card – Magomed Kurbanov, Evgeny Tishchenko, Pavel Silyagin, as well as Savely Sadoma, Gleb Bakshi and Mamuka Usubyan, who made their debut in the professional ring.

However, all of these boxers were clear favorites and their eventual victories were expected and predictable. Perhaps more impressive were the exits under the hall’s colorful decoration.

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Bakshi’s brilliant debut and Tishchenko’s displeasure

RCC Fair Fight champion kickboxer Usubyan defeated Pavel Mamontov by unanimous decision after four rounds. 2020 Olympics bronze medalist, 2019 world champion Bakshi beat Manuk Dilanyan by unanimous decision. 2021 World Championship bronze medalist Sadoma proved stronger than Farrukh Juraev by unanimous decision of the judges.

For Bakshi, it was the first fight in the professional ring since the semi-finals of the Tokyo Olympics last summer.

– Today I replied to all the fans, which I have done all year. After the Olympics, a lot of household chores piled up. I took care of them and started training and preparing for my debut as a professional. I think that’s exactly what a debut should look like,” Bakshi noted immediately after the win.

And we will add that during this year Bakshi was interested in rugby and tried this sport.

2016 Olympic champion Evgeniy Tishchenko, now a heavyweight champion, claimed his tenth victory in the professional ring with a single loss to Tabiso Mchunu of South Africa in March last year.

Now Tishchenko has defeated fellow countryman Kureish Sagov by technical knockout in the fourth round, who was unable to continue the fight due to a hand injury. Tishchenko was extremely unhappy with his performance, as well as numerous downtimes – he last entered the ring in September 2021, beating Dmitry Kudryashov.

– If the fight lasted all rounds, I might have felt my boxing. Downtimes like this are tough. Now I’m going to move away a bit, my son will soon be born. I said to my wife before the fight: “Be patient. Don’t go to the hospital. Let me box. “I am unhappy with the fight, but now I will have completely different emotions, ”Tishchenko noted.

In the co-main event, WBC Silver super middleweight champion Pavel Silyagin earned his eleventh professional win by beating Mexico’s Jose de Jesus Macias via unanimous decision with no issues. Note that Silyagin is at the top of the WBC rankings, and the full champion of this division is another, but several times more star, Mexican Saul Alvarez.

Kurbanov eventually fell out with Teixeira

In the main event of the evening, the desire of RCC Boxing Promotions management to arrange a meeting between Kurbanov and former WBO junior middleweight champion Patrick Teixeira of Brazil finally came true. And it only happened on the third try. Initially, the boxers were supposed to enter the ring on December 11 last year, but on the day of the fight, Kurbanov began to have health problems. Moreover, the battle was postponed to the second half of March, but then sanctions from international organizations came.

Teixeira, after the second cancellation, did not stand still and in April in the United States he fought with the Mexican Paul Cuesta. As they say, it would be better not to – the Brazilian lost due to a disqualification for a deliberate blow to the back of the head in the second round. In fact, it was the beginning of the end for Teixeira.

After this incident, he was dropped from the WBO rankings, which allowed Kurbanov’s representatives to return with a fight offer. Well, why wouldn’t Teixeira agree? By the way, Kurbanov was also excluded from the WBO rankings, but for completely different reasons.

The Brazilian on the eve of the fight at official events looked very lethargic and didn’t give the impression of a boxer ready to step into the cage to rip and throw. Although this impression is to some extent wrong – looking ahead, Teixeira certainly didn’t look like a ‘downed pilot’. But Kurbanov was initially considered a favorite, including by bookmakers. And the Russian himself understood this – Kurbanov entered the ring with a bandage on his head with the numbers of his future record – 23-0.

The fight could have ended already at the end of the first round, when Teixeira was counted out by a knockdown. But the Brazilian quickly recovered from the right hook. Teixeira moved much more on his feet, and his movements were often superfluous, and tried to inflict a large number of blows, but not all of them reached the goal. Kurbanov, on the other hand, hit much more precisely and more accentuated.

Kurbanov took lap after lap with confidence, and he himself understood that very well. Within moments he acted on the audience, imitating his opponent – Teixeira very often tried to feint with lowered hands.

As a result, the fight went through the allotted ten rounds, but no one doubted the final victory. Eloquently about the advantage of Kurbanov, the ratings of the referees speak – 97-92, 98-91, 99-90. An important detail is that only the boxers of the main pair will undergo doping tests after the match.

Kurbanov earned his 23rd victory in the professional ring (13 by knockout). For the Russian, this fight was the first since May 2021, when Magomed defeated Briton Liam Smith by unanimous decision. Teixeira also suffered a third consecutive defeat. Whether he can ever get back to the top is a big, big question.

“40, 50, 60 thousand spectators will come to our fight with Tima Tszyu”

“I feel good,” Kurbanov began to speak after his triumph. – A little tired. But I am satisfied and very happy to have ended this case in my favor. I believed it ! In December, when our fight failed, I would have been very bad. And if Patrick had been in the form he is now, I would have fallen, probably already on the fourth lap. And it wouldn’t even have been all of a sudden, I would have gotten sick just because of the weakness of the body.

Now I was fully prepared, confident and charged. Yes, it was uncomfortable, because the Brazilian worked on the left. I could have done even better. But I was surprised that Patrick was good on his feet, he twisted with his front hand and threw knockdowns with both hands in hopes of hitting me for something. We did a good job, somewhere I was a little in a hurry, but I was constantly saying to myself: “Control, control, control”. He just jabs. In principle, everything went as we wanted.

What did you expect and what actually happened?

– He was expected to go ahead, cut with me and set the pace. Again, I did not expect such leg work from him. Patrick Teixeira is an ex-world champion, he has nothing but respect. We took this fight very seriously and did our job very seriously.

– Did you ever think that now I was going to finish an opponent after a knockdown in the first round?

– Not. He’s a professional. And there’s no point in rushing at him and launching attacks on the block, when it still wasn’t enough to miss the chance. Also, the knockdown was at the end of the round, I went to finish, but the gong rang.

– During the fight, you seemed to imitate an opponent trying to feint with a large number of movements with their hands down.

“Sometimes you have to defeat an opponent with their own weapons. I would rate my game plan at 75 out of 100.

– Patrick Teixeira suffered a third consecutive defeat…

– I don’t consider the second defeat as a defeat. And so – no big deal. He is a former world champion. Brian Castaño (when Teixeira lost his WBO belt. – “”) came out like a bulldozer and passed Teixeira, and there was nothing he could do. The first two rounds, the Brazilian fought back, then died.

We wanted to do the same. Maybe I overexposed somewhere, I wanted to intercept or act ahead of the curve. Although I managed to hold on to it with my right hand.

– What are your future plans?

– The option with Tszyu never disappeared. Tim Tszyu, stop running! Let’s make a megaboy. Enough already, let’s go. And already tired.

– Do you really look at this confrontation even from such an angle that if you lose from Tszyu Jr., you will end your career?

“If I said so, so be it.” I am not joking.

– What is the reality of the meeting with Timofey Tszyu today? First, there are international sanctions. Second, Tszyu is set to face the undisputed junior middleweight champion, American Jermell Charlo.

– No matter. Let him box with Charlo. Let him run elsewhere. The main thing is to come running towards me. I know an arena of 40,000, 50,000, 60,000 spectators is going to gather for our fight. Come on, let’s do it.

– Are you sure that 60,000 fans will gather?

– Sure! Almost all of Russia is aware of such a battle.

— There is no arena for 60,000 seats in Yekaterinburg.

— (laughing.) In the street we will put stands with a large screen.

– Tim Tszyu – this is understandable. And which real opponents would you choose?

– You know what the situation is. There is Ismail Madrimov and Michel Soro, who fought on Saturday. There are many projects. But Tim Tszyu is still relevant.

I also heard that Sergey Vorobyov, who joked something in my direction, chattered a lot … He defeated a 63 kg guy and joked something. Very ugly. You deserve it first, or else you win against journimen, and then you remember me.

Why should I give you a fight? Very ugly. I understand that he wants to talk about rubbish. But you say to the whole country: “Sack”. Will you answer for your words? Will not answer! I’ve already written to him about it: “If you want to talk about rubbish, then you don’t touch anything personal.” He seems to have understood.

– But now you’ve moved on to trash talk.

– I did not move. I just talked about this person who says such things unreasonably. Win against someone worthy. To this day, I know a worthy opponent against whom he lost.