Murat Georgievich Gassiev vs. Michael Wallisch & Mikhail Aloyan vs. Mchanja Yohana RBR.

Actually yeah, this being so early and not the main event is ludicrous, the more I look at it. Kakololo's record holds up to a lot more scrutiny than does Yohana, the hapless Tanzanian they flew in to get 100-90'ed by Aloyan.

 

All four rounds so far have been close but clear for Andranik.

His left cheek is swelling up though. Corner doing a good job working on it during his stool break.

 

The only other vaguely competitive match-up I'm kind of looking forward to before watching Gassiev brutalize the big German lump is Edgard Viktorovich Moskvichev vs. Andrey Viktorovich Kalyuzhnyy for the Russian middleweight championship. Light-hitting southpaw boxer vs. one-dimensional but tall, lean & strong orthodox puncher.

 

Anything happen when I was away just now?

 

Not a damn thing.

 

This has really become very samey round to round.

So anyway, re: that middleweight title fight coming up...I really think Kalyuzhnyy might prove a banana peel for Moskvichev (the incumbent belt holder, and I believe the house fighter signed to Vlad Hryunov, whereas Kalyuzhnyy has spent the majority of his career in China for some reason ). He got tagged a lot and bothered a few times by Georgian mediocrity Pele Sadoyan, and I think Kalyuzhnyy packs a hell of a lot more punch.

 

Kakololo might be stealing this eighth round with long roundhouse body shots while spiraling away on rollerskates, making Grigoryan chase after him with lunging misses.

 

Let's hope for some fireworks then

 

This is Gassiev’s 2nd fight in 3 years. Against another stiff. What are they doing to this guys prime?

 

Kakololo was the most hurt in the round, by a right hand, but it was a rabbit punch, so I'm still giving it to him on that wealth of body whacks.

Academic though, don't see anything dramatic happening down the stretch. Neither seems to have game-changing power or a weak jaw and they've kept a pace that each man's gas tank can sustain. Probably cruising toward a decision for the Armenian in the 98-92 range.

79-73 Grigoryan.

 

Grigoryan's form on that rise-up left hook is dreadful; he's going to break a thumb, slamming a partially closed fist palm-first into the side of Kakololo's skull like that.

 

Final bell, no more sparring...

 

He was injured for quite some time.
But yes, this probably is a walkover.

 

Official cards:

Mikhail Buffer (real name Alexander Zagorsky) doesn't even read out the judges' names and scorecards, just the result.

UD for Grigoryan

 

They are keeping things moving right along today, anyway. Zagorsky reading the names for the next bout already before the previous teams have finished walking backstage.