Clemente Russo vs. Aleksei Egorov II RBR

Round 6

Russo is hopping laterally, now breaking into a sidelong skip, heels clacking together like Dorothy wishing her way home from Oz. Hands down. Flicking up backhanded pot shot jabs but throwing while in full retreat mode and only making light skimming contact with Egorov's face or brow, if that. Egorov is stalking, recalibrating each step mid-motion to cut off Russo's escape and force him into a firefight. Russo obliges, for a few seconds, flipping up jabs and looping rights into Egorov's face, but after eating a couple of blows himself is quick to flop in and wrestle Egorov's arms down and hug tightly. Egorov pushes down on him and waits for the ref to split them. Russo is hit with six or seven unanswered punches while leaving his face out in the open, staring at the canvas, back arched, gloves down. The ref thinks about stepping in, very tense body language. Egorov himself even stops punching for a moment and takes a step back looking at the ref as though wondering if he is about to stop it.

10-9 Egorov

58-56 Egorov

 

Round 7

Russo is full-on running now. Egorov walks him down and lances a right into his face, jolting Russo. More running. Egorov finds him laying on the ropes for a respite. Egorov intentionally misses a jab over the shoulder, clamps down to hold Russo in place, and blasts him with point-blank right uppercuts. Russo is visibly affected by Egorov's punches now, even when partially blocked as he is managing to do (and that's pretty much all he is doing with his fists). Russo is pressing his frontispiece into Egorov's chest, nose buried in the center of his breastplate, neck craned awkwardly. Russo stalling the action as much as he can before falling back and throwing wild desperate hooks with both hands. A get through but Egorov doesn't even blink, continuing to abuse Russo downstairs and boss the infighting, or what there is of it when Russo isn't holding on.

10-9 Egorov

68-65 Egorov

 

Talk about having a guy's #!!! :yikes

 

Round 8

Russo is getting dinged up now with rights upside the head and quick little paddle-ball jab clusters between the eyes. Egorov is walking through unobstructed and clobbering Russo up close, head and body. Russo pulls back and lines up a HUGE FLUSH COUNTER RIGHT HAND ON THE NOSE. Egorov doesn't even pause throwing his own punches, doesn't shift his footing one millimeter. That may have been the hardest punch Russo threw all night, he put all his might into that. Emboldened despite the lack of impact made on Egorov, Russo starts throwing more bombs, hanging in the pocket with Egorov. Back and forth. Nice finish.

10-9 Egorov

78-74 Egorov

 

Russo had the most eye-catching punch of the eighth but it'd be a stretch to give it to him even for a pity round.

 

Official cards:

77-75
76-76
77-75

MD for Aleksei Egorov

 

A drawn card, really? FFS.

 

:hi:

 

As well as the APB heavyweight title (and the rare and resume-enhancing honor of going up 2-0 on a fighter of Russo's caliber), Egorov has earned himself a berth in Rio in the 2016 Olympics.

 

I really don't get how the cards were that close. Not just the 2nd judge, but the pair that had it 5-3 for Egorov.


Fine, he started pretty slow and probably gave away the first two while getting a rhythm going, but then he beat Russo up for essentially the next six in a row. The eighth, like I said above, could swing Russo's way on an inexperienced judge's card if they were swayed by some of the dumb shots Egorov ate in the final minute when Russo finally decided to make him pay for his defense-eschewing aggression, but even that is a stretch and that doesn't explain the 4-4 card. There weren't four in there for the homer and the Catanian audience knew it, as they were as quiet as Russo's offense for most of the fight.

Egorov bashed him up in rounds 3-7, clear as day.

 

Their first meeting, in November:

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I'll post the rematch as soon as it gets uploaded.