Big boxing returns to the capital of Ukraine
January 20th will take place at the Kiev Sports Palace big boxing evening. The central event of the event, organized by the promotion company Sparta Boxing Promotions, will be WBF junior welterweight title fight between Ukrainian Aram Fanian and Mexican Francisco Mercado. In addition, there will be a fight for the Ukrainian champion title and a number of rating fights. Sport Arena tells you everything you need to know about the first large-scale wartime tournament in our country.
Why is the boxing evening on January 20 a historical event?
Firstly, this is the first large-scale boxing and sports event in Ukraine in the context of a full-scale war unleashed by Russia against our country. Secondly, the capital’s Sports Palace will host a big boxing evening for the first time in five years. Thirdly, the championship match will be held in Ukraine for the first time in two and a half years, at the Sports Palace – in almost 16.5 years.
Well, that’s the main thing. The event has a big charitable goal. The organizers want to collect 5,000,000 hryvnia to restore the Nikolaev sports school. It was destroyed by the Russian army during massive shelling of the city at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
In addition, a charity auction will be held, all proceeds from which will go to the needs of the consolidated paramilitary patrol police unit named after. Nestor Makhno and the Shock Company of the BPAK “Combat Khrushchi”.
What a title WBF?
The World Boxing Federation (WBF) is the sixth most respected boxing organization, after the WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO/IBO. The structure is relatively young, but at different times the WBF champion titles were held by Holyfield, Tarver, and Roy Jones, among others. Well, it is important that the championship title being played out in the Faniyan-Mercado fight will be full-fledged, without any regional prefixes, and its owner will be included in the top 30 ratings of the leading organizations in the world.
Who is Francisco Mercado, Fanian’s opponent in the championship fight?
The 25-year-old Mexican had 13 fights in the professional ring, won eight (three ahead of schedule), lost three (one ahead of schedule). Aram has 25 professional fights (23 wins and two losses). In his last five fights, Mercado has three wins and two losses (including against the serious Czech fighter Pavel Polakovich, who won all 11 fights in the pros).
The fight against Mercado is the first full-fledged title fight for Fanian. Previously, the Ukrainian held the WBC Youth Silver, WBO Oriental and IBO International belts. Francisco Mercado is the fourth opponent from Mexico in the Ukrainian’s career. Now Fanian’s score in the confrontation with the Mexicans is 2:1 in his favor.
What other fights on January 20 are worthy of attention?
Basically, anyone. For example, the silver medalist of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and boxer of the Ukrainian national team Taras Bondarchuk will make his debut in professional boxing. His opponent will be Artur Zemlyanoy.
In addition, Andrey Tsyura (6-1, 5 KOs) and Vladislav Gela (13-5, 8 KOs) will play Ukrainian and WBC Ukraine champion title. Gela is a firefighter from Kremenchuk, who combines his work as a civil servant with professional boxing. It was his brigade that was one of the first to arrive at the burning Amstor shopping center on the day of the shelling of Kremenchug by the Russian army in the summer of 2022…
Also this evening, promising Ukrainian boxer Nazri Ragimov and Ali Dagly will be in the ring.
What surprises are the organizers preparing?
There will also be a big show program, as part of which a charity auction will be held, hosted by Yuri Gorbunov. Among the lots on both boxing and military themes is an exclusive piece of gold and diamond jewelry from the famous Ukrainian jeweler Vyacheslav Bulkovsky. The main lot will be an autographed boxing glove President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky.
As part of the boxing evening, there will be performances by star artists: Kozak Siromakha, Svetlana Tarabarova, Alena Omargalieva.
What are the boxers’ chances in the main fight of the evening on January 20?
Bookmaker analysts in the Faniyan-Mercado fight give unconditional advantage for the Ukrainian boxer. Fanian’s chances of winning are estimated as 1×1.05. Mercado’s winning probability is 1×8.5. At the same time, the probability that “total rounds will be less than 10.5” – 1×2.16. And this is already interesting.
Where to watch the broadcast of the boxing evening on January 20?
A free broadcast of the boxing evening at the Kiev Sports Palace will be held on the MEGOGO platform. From the 2020/21 season, the Mego service offers broadcasts of Champions League and Europa League matches. And in general, all the leading clubs and tournaments in the world are represented on the platform. The service also broadcasts the most interesting MMA fights and fights with the participation of the best Ukrainian boxers.
The live broadcast of the boxing evening will begin at 16:00.
Source: Sportarena
I am Ben Stock and I work in Athletistic as an author. My specialty is covering football news and other related topics. I have been writing for this website since the past 2 years, crafting compelling stories with the latest updates in the sports world. My articles have gained widespread appreciation amongst readers due to their accuracy and depth of research.
