Last Thursday night, September 19, at the Uvais Akhtaev Sports Palace in Grozny, Russia, WBO #4-, IBF #6- and WBA #10-rated light heavyweight Umar Salamov successfully defended his WBO International Championship with an impressive TKO 3 over Ghana’s Emmanuel Danso.
Fighting in front of his hometown fans, Salamov (24-1, 18 KOs) was too much for the shorter Danso (now 31-5, 28 KOs) and dropped him three times with perfectly timed right hands in round three. The fight was waved off at 2:44.
Two other Salita Promotions’ Russian fighters were victorious on the undercard as well.
Another hometown hero, WBO #8-rated super middleweight Aslambek Idigov (17-0, 7 KOs) overcame a strong start from Slovakian challenger Robert Racz (21-2, 19 KOs) to pull out a unanimous 10-round decision and successfully defend his WBO and IBF European Championships.
Racz had some moments early on, but the world-class conditioning and superior skills of Idigov allowed him to take over as the rounds went by, eventually winning by scores of 98-94, 97-93, and 98-92.
Kurchaloi, Russia’s heavyweight crusher Apti Davtaev (18-0-1, 17 KOs) successfully defended his WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental title for the first time by demolishing American opponent Daniel Martz (18-8-1, 15 KOs) in just 69 seconds of the first round.
Showing the size and power that make him a force to be reckoned with on the heavyweight landscape, Davtaev went straight at Martz who could only turn his head to avoid the double sledgehammers flying his way.
Martz was down three times in the brief but brutal affair.
“All three fighters are closing in on world championship fights,” said their promoter, Dmitriy Salita. “They are all clearly a step above domestic-level competition and have developed into serious threats to any world champion they will all eventually face. Tireless hard work and total dedication make the difference in tough tests like these and all three passed with flying colors.”
