Conwell Stops Ashkeyev in Battle of Unbeatens Plus Other Results

Charles Conwell made a Hollywood splash with an emphatic hit in stopping Madiyar Ashkeyev by knockout in a battle between undefeated super welterweights on Thursday.

“I’m the only contender fighting other undefeated fighters,” said Conwell.

It was one of those sleeper hits.

A new star was born as Conwell (14-0, 11 KOs) out-bullied the bully Ashkeyev (14-1, 7 KOs) in a fight that saw elbows, shoves, low blows and head butts galore at the outdoor platform on the Wild Card Boxing gym parking lot.

It was Conwell’s kind of fight.

Ashkeyev, 32, is a familiar fighter on the West Coast and many expected the Kazakh to impose his will by shoving and punching. But despite the experience advantage, he quickly realized that rough house tactics did not work with Conwell.

Cleveland’s Conwell began using the same tactics against Ashkeyev and it quickly became apparent the American fighter liked it. The fight quickly became an inside war and Ashkeyev looked for answers.

Round after round Conwell ripped through Askeyev’s attempts to hold or bully his way inside. Combination punches to the body and head connected and just when it seemed he was finished, the Cleveland fighter would sneak in an uppercut. He just couldn’t seem to miss with those uppercuts.

Ashkeyev tried to fight his way back into the fight but it was obvious that he had no answer.

No knockdowns were scored but in the eighth round Askeyev turned his back and Conwell leaped to take advantage but was stopped by the referee Jack Reiss. Later, after a ninth round beating, the referee went to Ashkeyev’s corner to ask if he could stop the fight. After some questioning Reiss waived the fight off.

Conwell was deemed the winner by knockout at the end of the ninth round.

“I knew I broke him down,” said Conwell. “Eventually I got him out of there.”

Conwell opened some eyes with his performance.

World Title Fight

WBA featherweight titlist Jelena Mrdjenovich (41-10-2, 19 KOs) ran into a buzzsaw in Mexico’s Paola Torres (12-5-1, 4 KOs) but managed to use her experience to pull out a victory by unanimous decision. It was closer than some scores indicated.

Mrdjenovich quickly opened up with a body attack against the softer looking Torres. She soon discovered that soft does not mean out-of-shape and by the second round Torres connected with left hooks that stood the Canadian straight up.

The war was on.

Back and forth the two featherweights traded nonstop with Mrdjenovich finding success to the body and with jabs, while Torres continued to connect with left hooks, overhand rights and a stiff left jab. By the fourth round Mrdjenovich’s face had dark red spots. In the fifth round a cut opened around her right eye.

“I tried to dig to that body; she looked soft,” said Mrdjenovich. “But she is one tough cookie.”

Torres and Mrdjenovich continued fighting inside and continued clashing heads, but their action never stopped. Neither fighter was hurt bad and after 10 rounds all three judges scored it in favor of Mrdjenovich 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94.

“I wanted an easy fight tonight to showcase my power,” admitted Mrdjenovich. “I really wish I would have made it quick.”

Other Bout

Mexicali’s Eduardo Baez (18-1-2) ran down Narek Abgaryan (14-1) to hand the Armenian fighter his first defeat as a professional in an eight round super bantamweight fight.

Baez was the taller fighter and used relentless pressure to corner the in-and-out movements of Abgaryan and win by unanimous decision. No knockdowns were scored but all three judges favored Baez 80-72 twice and 79-73.

Photo credit: Tom Hogan / Ring City

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