Faniyan already has the title, Dalakyan will defend against the dangerous Japanese. All about the main fights of Ukrainian boxing in January

January 2024 is an eventful month for Ukrainian professional boxing. On January 20, at the first big event in Kiev in five years, Aram Faniyan won the WBF junior welterweight championship belt, defeating Mexican Francisco Mercado, and on January 23, in Osaka, Artem Dalakyan will defend the WBA flyweight title in a fight against Seyigo Akuya . We talk about the main events of the first month of goals in Ukrainian boxing.

Fanian’s first “full” title

The Ukrainian welterweight boxer, representing the promotion company Sparta Boxing Promotions, overcame his loss to British prospect Adam Azim with a confident victory. On Saturday, Faniyan knocked out Mexican Francisco Mercado in the seventh round, recording his 24th (sixth early) victory in the professional ring.

Moreover, Mercado’s knockout brought Fanian, who previously held the WBC Youth Silver, WBO Oriental and IBO International belts, his first full title – according to the World Boxing Federation. Yes, the WBF is not rated as highly as the five main versions, but its belt should lift Aram into the top 20 of the world’s leading organizations.

Gela already has a belt

24-year-old Poltava native Vladislav Gela (14-5-1, 8 KOs) defeated 30-year-old Lviv resident Andrey Tsyura (6-2, 5 KOs) in a fight for the Ukrainian and WBC Ukraine junior middleweight titles. The fight lasted all the allotted 10 rounds, following which the referee gave the victory to Gele.

Two championship titles are a well-deserved reward for Vladislav, who combines boxing with his service as a firefighter, including eliminating the consequences of Russian missile attacks on Kremenchug.

Bright application from Sparta Boxing Promotions

Taking all the circumstances into account, the boxing evening itself in Kyiv turned out to be excellent. And it’s not just about holding the championship match in the capital. Yes, perhaps someone will have questions regarding the card. Yes, it was not possible to assemble a complete Sports Palace (although, it seems, the last person who succeeded was Alexander Usik). But the very fact that such an event was possible to organize under military conditions is worthy of respect.

There were indeed quite a few spectators – it was clear that people missed boxing in particular and sporting events in general. The amount raised at the charity auction held during the boxing evening turned out to be impressive and equal to the declared amount (not counting donations). We hope to continue.

A difficult test for Dalakyan

On Tuesday, January 23, WBA world flyweight champion Artem Dalakyan will defend his title in Osaka against local boxer Seyigo Akuyi. The 36-year-old Ukrainian will hold his second fight in a row outside our country. But if the defense of the title a year ago against Costa Rican David Jimenez, who had no defeats at that time, and after winning two fights ahead of schedule, took place on neutral territory, now Dalakyan will have to fight against an equally dangerous opponent on his visit.

Akuyi is truly a top fighter. The 28-year-old Japanese won 18 out of 21 fights in the professional ring, drew one, and lost two. Of the two defeats, one happened in a fight with world champion in two weight categories, Junto Nakatani. And Akuyi is approaching the fight against Dalakyan on a streak of six victories. The number of early victories of Seyigo is also noteworthy – he won more than half of his fights ahead of schedule, which is a high figure for the flyweight.

Akuyi made his professional debut three years later than Dalakyan, but had only one fight less. He is a disciplined and well-trained fighter, and this time he can count on the favor of the judges and his native atmosphere: Seyigo has never fought outside of Japan.

The Dalakyan-Akuyi fight will be the second co-main event of the boxing evening in Osaka. In another central fight of the evening, another Japanese boxer Kenshiro Teradzi (Ken Shiro) will defend his WBA and WBC super flyweight titles.

The Dalakyan-Akuyi fight can also be seen in Ukraine. In our country, the match will be broadcast by XSport TV channel. The approximate time for the start of the broadcast of the boxing event with the main fight Dalakyan – Akuyi is around 12:00 Kyiv time.