By Alexey Sukachev

Two Russian notables were successful on Saturday while fighting in Kohtla-Jarve, Estonia, for locally controversial WBC Baltic titles.

25-year old lanky super middleweight Maxim Vlasov (22-1, 12 KOs) imposed a sound beating upon Poland-based Ukrainian Roman Shkarupa (24-3-2, 8 KOs). Shkarupa was down in the third and wasn’t allowed to continue fighting after a break between the third and the fourth rounds. Vlasov is a relatively known personality also in the States thanks to his regular appearances on Friday Night Fights. This spring he suffered his first loss in a close and controversial fight with Isaac Chilemba.

More lengthy was a fight between WBC #9 cruiserweight Alexander Kotlobay (21-2-1, 15 KOs) and Lithuanian journeyman Mantas Tarvydas (18-11, 12 KOs). It ended in the seventh after Kotlobay’s dominance became evident.

WBC Baltic title is officially disregarded by the Professional Boxing Federation of Russia, Thus these fights took place in Estonia, the only Baltic country except Poland, to support the idea of such a belt.

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WBA #1 super middleweight Dmitry Sartison (28-1, 17 KOs) got back into action on Saturday at Bulle de Gerardchamps in Liege, Belgium, and looked rusty and woefully out-of-shape against 21-year old Latvian journeyman Arturs Kulikauskis (7-12-2, 4 KOs). The former WBA champion was fighting for the first time since getting his best career win over Khoren Gevor in July 2010 and didn’t look good at all. After eight rounds, one judge gave a draw 77-77, while two other voted in favour of the Germany-based Kazakh 79-77 and 78-75.

In the main undercard fight of the event, hard-hitting local bantamweight Stephane Jamoye (22-3, 12 KOs) knocked out Nicaraguan Julio Buitrago (11-11, 2 KOs) in four.

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K2 Promotions will be back into promotional activity the next Saturday night in Kharkov, Ukraine. In the main event, WBO #5 ranked junior welterweight Sergey “Professor” Fedchenko (28-1, 13 KOs) will take on former world title challenger and WBO #15 ranked Frenchman Willie Blain (24-1, 4 KOs). Fedchenko, 30, is coming off a controversial win over previously unbeaten countryman Artiom Ayvazidi in May. Blain, 33, is 4-0 since losing to Lamont Peterson in April 2009. WBO European title will be at stake in this fight.

Several Ukrainian contenders will be featured in the undercard. Welterweights Valery Brazhnik (26-0-1, 16 KOs), ranked WBO #13, Victor Plotnikov (25-1, 12 KOs) and Dmytro Semernin (7-0, 3 KOs) will all fight Georgian journeymen. Also planned to take part in the show are highly ranked light heavyweight Vyacheslav Uzelkov (24-1, 15 KOs), who is ranked #5 by the WBA, #11 by the WBC, #12 by the WBO and #15 by the IBF, and Valentin Holovko (14-0, 9 KOs).

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Two dangerous Eastern European fighters continued their winning streaks a week and a half ago at Gagarin Club in Minsk, Belarus, where local promoter Valery Kaplia unified his efforts with Philippe Fondu and Ricky Hatton to stage a pleasant little show for Belarussian fight fans.

In the main event, Alexander Sushchyts (13-1, 7 KOs) barely got past Evgueny Abdrazakov (8-8, 3 KOs) to get a vacant national middleweight title via a majority decision: 96-94, 98-97 and 97-97. However, stars of the night were two other fighters.

First, hard-punching Kazakh Zhanat Zhakiyanov improved to 16-1, with 9 KOs, after the second-round blowout of undefeated local youngster Dmitry Agofonov (8-1, 2 KOs). Zhakiyanov is 3-0, 3 KOs, this year while fighting also in England and Switzerland. His lone loss came against world-ranked Russian Sahib Usarov three years ago.

Also, WBA #13 light middleweight Sergey Rabchenko (19-0, 14 KOs) got his fourth victory of 2011, when he stopped Ukrainian trialhorse Vladimir Borovskiy (21-45-2, 10 KOs) in the eighth. Next for a notorious bodypuncher Rabchenko could be a fight against Prince Arron for a vacant European title.