Fast Results From Monte Carlo: Lebedev and Yafai Win; Hunter Wins Impressively

Today, TSS brings you live results of the big shows in Monte Carlo and Atlantic City. The Monte Carlo show is in the books.

In the featured bout, 39-year-old Russian veteran Denis Lebedev (31-3) won a lopsided 12-round decision over stubborn Mike “White Delight” Wilson. Although the bout wasn’t close, it was a moral victory for Wilson who had been plying his trade off in the Oregon boondocks where he promoted his own shows. Wilson (19-1) had already booked the Jackson County Fairgrounds for his next fight on March 2, but he improved his marketability by lasting the distance with Lebedev and may now forego that date for a better paying assignment on the road.

Lebedev holds the WBA “super” world cruiserweight title, but that belt wasn’t at stake. The scores were 117-111 and 119-109 twice. Lebedev hopes to land a fight with Oleksandr Usyk.

Hunter-Ustinov

“My plan is to chop him down and probably get him out in the later rounds,” said Michael Hunter of his forthcoming match with Alexander Ustinov. And Hunter, who took the fight on less than two weeks notice after Zhelei Zang withdrew, ostensibly because of visa problems, worked that game plan to perfection. He methodically chopped down the lumbering, 41-year-old Ustinov who had a 5 ½-inch height advantage and outweighed Hunter by 65 pounds.

In round eight, Hunter (16-1, 11 KOs) knocked Ustinov to the canvas with a hard combination. The Russian was lucky to survive the round. In the next frame, Ustinov slumped to his knees after absorbing more punches and his corner mercifully threw in the towel. It was Hunter’s fourth straight win after moving up from cruiserweight. Ustinov declined to 34-3.

Yafai-Gonzalez

In a fight that proved harder than expected, defending WBA super bantamweight title-holder Kal Yafai kept his undefeated record intact with a unanimous decision over Israel Gonzalez. Mexico’s Gonzalez (23-3) raised his hands at the final bell as if he had won it, but the judges disagreed, giving it to Yafai (25-0) by nods of 117-111 and 116-112 twice. Yafai, the oldest of three fighting brothers, gave an honest assessment of his performance, calling it sloppy.  There were no knockdowns, but Gonzalez suffered a bad cut over his left eye in round five after an accidental clash of heads.

Yeleussinov

In a welterweight match slated for eight rounds, southpaw Daniyar Yeleussinov (5-0, 3 KOs) blew away Marcos Mojica (16-3-2), stopping the overmatched Nicaraguan in the third round. Yeleussinov collapsed Mojica with a body punch and then staggered him with an uppercut when he wouldn’t stay down, forcing the referee to intervene.  A two-time Olympian who won gold in Rio, Yeleussinov is Eddie Hearn’s first Kazakh signee. As an amateur, he drew comparisons with Vasiliy Lomachenko.

Buglioni-Meng

In the first of four 12-round fights, little-known Fanlong Meng (14-0) was awarded a TKO over Frank Buglioni (22-4-1) when the bout was stopped in the fifth round due to a nasty cut over Buglioni’s right eye. It was a bitter defeat for the former British light heavyweight champion who was having difficulty solving Meng’s southpaw style. “Perhaps maybe a rematch down the line,” said Buglioni.

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Kazakhstan’s Sultan Zauerbek improved to 2-0 with a third round stoppage of Barcelona-based Edwin Tellez. As an amateur, Zauerbek beat future Olympic gold medalist Robson Conceicao. Tellez has lost 38 of his last 43.

In the first match of the night, junior middleweight Ruslan Kupchik, a converted kickboxer, won his pro debut with a 4-round unanimous decision over Mifodzo Pilipenak. The scores were 39-37 and 40-36 twice. Pilipenak was 1-12-1 going in.

Atlantic City

Tonight, Dmitry Bivol (14-0, 11 KOs) makes the third defense of his WBA light heavyweight title against former title-holder Jean Pascal (33-5-1, 20 KOs). The event is being held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. HBO World Championship Boxing will be broadcasting the event at 9:00 pm ET. The show will also be presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.

Junior Featherweights Murodjon Akhmadaliev and Isaac Zarate will be fighting in a 122-pound opener for the HBO broadcast. The twenty-seven-year-old Akhmadaliev is a southpaw from Uzbekistan who won a bronze medal in the 2016 Olympics. Zarate is from San Pedro, California.

Also on tonight’s card, 2016 heavyweight gold medalist Evgeny Tishchenko (2-0, 1 KOs) will make his U.S. debut against Christian Mariscal (11-1, 5 KOs). Tishchenko, weighed in at 212 pounds and Mariscal at 246.4 pounds.

Be sure to check back later for live results of all the bouts from Atlantic City.