Kyiv’s sold out Palace of Sports was the venue for a huge Saturday night of boxing in Ukraine, with Olympic Gold Medalist Oleksandr Usyk’s battle against Cuban Pedro Rodriguez headlining the event. The undercard of K2 Promotions’ glittering event saw two key AIBA Pro Boxing contests starring local talent, with the experienced Middleweight Dmytro Mytrofanov facing Ecuador’s Marlo Delgado and Light Welterweight Vyacheslav Kyslytsyn against Qatar’s Thulasi Tharumalingam in front of more than 7000 spectators.
AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu, who attended the match alongside fellow IOC Executive Board Member and Ukraine National Olympic Committee President, Mr Sergey Bubka, praised the event: “It was one of the best matches I have ever attended and I would like to congratulate the boxers and the organisers on the spectacular show”.
AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu, who attended the match alongside fellow IOC Executive Board Member and Ukraine National Olympic Committee President, Mr Sergey Bubka, praised the event: “It was one of the best matches I have ever attended and I would like to congratulate the boxers and the organisers on the spectacular show”.
The Middleweight match-up saw two very different boxing styles make for an engaging, evenly balanced encounter, with Mytrofanov edging the opening rounds as he repeatedly stalked the Ecuadorian at the ropes, landing cleaner and more effective punches.
Delgado kept his cool to come back strongly, relying on his light footwork to create openings as the Ukrainian continued to press powerfully. The tempo was relentless, and the crowd cheered loudly in the fourth as the contest burst into relentless action with sharp combination punching. The result the crowd wanted rarely looked in doubt though, and Mytrofanov won 78:73 on all three judges’ scorecards.
"I am very happy that I won and I would like to thank all the fans for their incredible support in the arena tonight. I would also like to thank APB for the opportunity to box at such a high level in my home country,” Mytrofanov said after the bout.
In the earlier APB match, Qatar’s Thulasi Tharumalingam used heavy counter-punches to repeatedly stumble his Ukrainian opponent before flooring Vyacheslav Kyslytsyn in the third round to silence the home crowd. From then on Tharumalingam took full control of the bout, landing almost at will and knocking Kyslytsyn down again in the final round as he powered through to a unanimous 59:54, 59:53, 59:54 points win.
"I'm very happy to have won in Ukraine against Kyslytsyn. It wasn't easy, and to defeat a Ukrainian on his home turf, with the country’s great boxing tradition, means a lot. I'm happy to get the chance to fight in APB and besides my goal to become the APB Champion I want to qualify for the Olympic Games through APB,” said Qatar’s victorious Light Welterweight.
Delgado kept his cool to come back strongly, relying on his light footwork to create openings as the Ukrainian continued to press powerfully. The tempo was relentless, and the crowd cheered loudly in the fourth as the contest burst into relentless action with sharp combination punching. The result the crowd wanted rarely looked in doubt though, and Mytrofanov won 78:73 on all three judges’ scorecards.
"I am very happy that I won and I would like to thank all the fans for their incredible support in the arena tonight. I would also like to thank APB for the opportunity to box at such a high level in my home country,” Mytrofanov said after the bout.
In the earlier APB match, Qatar’s Thulasi Tharumalingam used heavy counter-punches to repeatedly stumble his Ukrainian opponent before flooring Vyacheslav Kyslytsyn in the third round to silence the home crowd. From then on Tharumalingam took full control of the bout, landing almost at will and knocking Kyslytsyn down again in the final round as he powered through to a unanimous 59:54, 59:53, 59:54 points win.
"I'm very happy to have won in Ukraine against Kyslytsyn. It wasn't easy, and to defeat a Ukrainian on his home turf, with the country’s great boxing tradition, means a lot. I'm happy to get the chance to fight in APB and besides my goal to become the APB Champion I want to qualify for the Olympic Games through APB,” said Qatar’s victorious Light Welterweight.
By: Editor
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