Eduard Valentinovich Troyanovsky vs. Josef Zahradník & Batal Zurab Chezhia vs. Dzhamal Usmanov RBR

Don't blink; this could be over in a hurry. Mendoza is a classic glass cannon from Nicaragua with a 9-2 record, with all his wins & losses by KO. Aziev is 11-0 with 7 kayos, and his most impressive scalp is Konstantin Piternov (although it was an injury stoppage) followed by having iced Joseph ****ga (better known as Joey Vegas) in just thirty seconds.

 

Aziev is listed with a 2½″ height advantage over Mendoza but is appears to be substantially more to my eye. Could just be an optical illusion because the Nicaraguan is sort of squat & pudgy, and his stance is rather slouching.

 

Like to see that.

 

That body jab is killer. I think Mendoza will succumb to accumulation from them, eventually, as soft in the middle as he is.

 

My only real complaint with Aziev is that his right hand drops lazily when he's stepping in, leaving him open to jabs or hooks. Mendoza is scoring a bit more than he should, but Aziev seems to not mind as he's pressing the issue and firmly in control.

edit: and there's a knockdown, on cue.

 

He might be going the distance for the first time in his pro career. Worth celebrating, I guess, even if that implicitly means taking your first wide UD loss.

 

Called it! Body shot knockdown!

Look at the way Mendoza grimaced as he sat on the middle rope. If he's smart, Aziev will keep targeting his midsection and could finish this.

 

Gotta say, for a typical South American kill or be killed style gunslinger, Mendoza can be fairly slick and drum up some awkwardly effective ambush offense when he puts his mind to it.

 

The goal is within sight, for Mendoza. He seemed very proud of himself when the bell rang to conclude the seventh. I think he really will take losing a decision as something of a moral victory here.

Aziev has some positive qualities but after today's performance, unless he pulls out something big in these last couple of minutes, I have to file him under "flawed prospects". Just ...missing something intangible.

 

He made it!

Found myself really pulling for Mendoza down the stretch.