Bare knuckles and knockouts in Constantinople

 ISTANBUL-The IBA(International Boxing Association) held an extrodinary event at the crossroads between Europe and Asia on the Golden Horn. With multiple belts on the line and two bare knuckle fights, the matches did not disappoint. The hotel arena was full of spectators and still intimate. The loudest voice in the room was Shannon Briggs, former champion Heavyweight, with shouts of “Lets go champ!”. The Cannon, still holds the record of 1^st round knock outs 37.

 For the main event, James Dickens out of the UK emerged as the new WBA Super Featherweight Champion after defeating Albert Batyrgaziev out of Russia with a shocking TKO(Technical Knockout) in just the fourth round of the 12-round match. The match started off slow with calculated punches that was thought to go the full twelve rounds. By the third round, Jazza began to dominate and by the fourth round he put the Russian on the ground multiple times.

 This fight was proceeded by six others including, three Rating IBA Pro fights, two IBA Bare knuckle fights and one fight with the Welterweight WBA Continental Title on the line. Hovhannes Bachkov from Armenia defended his title against Xolisani Ndongeni from winning by a sudden knock out in the ninth round. The knock out was proceeded by some words from Xolisani just before the striking blows started. The belt was presented by Noami Campbell to Hovhannes after he was announced the winner.

 Bare knuckle boxing is relatively still new to the modern sport, just being approved by the IBA Board of Directors meeting in Dubai this past May. The idea is to go back to the roots of the sport and to attract more fans to the sport. Due to the popularity of UFC fighting professional boxing.

 To the crowds delight, the local Turk, Murat Kazgan defeated the American, Will Chope in the Headline Bare Knuckle match. The Turk lived up to his name, Lord Pitbull and came out swinging like he had been let off the leash. The towering Will the kill, tried to connect put could not create enough separation during the three, two-minute round match as Murat continued to chop down the tree. After the three rounds to the crowd’s loudest cheers of the night, Kazagan was announced the winner by unanimous decision.

 The first bare knuckle fight, which had a rough start at the weigh in with locked heads and continued in the ring. Mikhail Kokhannchik from Kazakhstan in his first bare knuckle match, defeated Elnur Suleymanov from Azerbaijan. The fight started off more cautiously compared to the other bare knuckle fight. Each fighter seemed to understand that each hit could cost the entire match. 

 Mikhail struck first with left with an immediate cut on Elnur which ended the first round with him on the ground. Suleymanov spent the rest of the fight trying to stay up wounded by the first hit. Elnur’s superior level of experience did not help him and Kokhanchick was announced the winner at the end of the third round by unanimous decision.

 Three other six round fights started the knight off with two female fights. In the first fight of the night Madiyar Saydrakhimov from Uzbekistan defeated Ahmad Mustafayev fighting out of Azerbaijan after going the full length. The Mijgona Samadova from Tajikistan defeated Puneh Akhundtabar from Iran by unanimous decision after going the full length. The second female match was won by Milana Safronova from Kazakhstan who defeated Gulsum Tatar fighting out of Turkmenistan, also by unanimous decision after going the full six rounds.

 The event was a huge success for the IBA and for Istanbul. The fans had complete access to many boxing celebrities often posing for photo-ops or answering reports questions against a backdrop of a city that straddles between east and west. This could be the start of many more events from the IBA on this side of the world. mlp